Assembled We Are Strong
by Drogna
Summary: The Avengers save the world, but Tony Stark finds out that the aftermath of the battle is hard on everyone, and one of their number in particular. He sets out to get them all to move into Stark Tower, and they learn some things about themselves and the Tower along the way. Teamfic with lots of Hawkeye. No slash.
1. Chapter 1

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: This is a rambling fic about the forming of friendships and how a group of broken people, who have all been loners in the past, come together for more than just a single battle. It was supposed to be about Clint, but it turned into a teamfic with emphasis on our favourite archer (although he's not in this chapter). Tony and Bruce take up a fair amount of the plot too. There will most likely be whump in later chapters, so you have been warned.

I'm using movie-verse continuity, but I've borrowed the title from the Avengers:EMH cartoon. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it, even for grown-ups.

I own nothing.

* * *

The gigantic A that was all that was left of the word "Stark" on Stark Tower was what started the whole thing. Tony Stark owned the tower, it was his and he liked his name to be on things that belonged to him. So when it came to repairs, he'd naturally included replacing the other letters as part of the rebuild. The battle-to-end-all-battles had been particularly hard on his New York headquarters. Replacing the other letters wasn't a priority, and it would probably be a while before it even got done, with all the other more structural repairs to take care of first. However as he came to put his signature on the paperwork for the letters to be replaced, something stopped him. Something made him decide that the A was all he needed, so he deleted the work order, not quite sure why he was doing it. That got him thinking.

* * *

Bruce Banner loved the R and D levels of Stark Tower as much as he'd been told he would, and he loved the fact that Tony had given him his own lab. Tony was even putting him up in the Tower; for the moment it was in the guest bedroom of the penthouse, but Tony had promised him his own quarters in the rebuild. Bruce hadn't left the Tower since the Avengers had seen Loki and Thor off and he was fine with that.

Bruce was sat in his lab when JARVIS spoke and he nearly dropped the beaker he was holding. Getting used to Tony's AI was taking a while. "Doctor Banner, Ms Potts wishes to invite you to join her and Mr Stark for dinner tonight. They are planning to eat at 7pm."

"Thank you JARVIS, tell Pepper that I'd love to join them. I'll finish up here and be there on the dot." It wasn't unusual to get such an invitation. Normally Bruce kept his own hours and ate when a natural break came in his work. He didn't want to intrude on Tony's day to day life too much, the billionaire had already helped him enough and probably didn't want to spend all his time socialising with him. He did appreciate the gesture from Pepper to make sure that he was included though.

Bruce wound up the experiment that he'd been conducting and wandered up from the floor with his lab on, via the elevator, and into the penthouse's living room. He found Pepper and Tony sat on one of the luxurious sofas that graced the room, sipping a pre-dinner drink whilst looking at a 3D computer model of the tower that JARVIS had generated.

"Bruce! Come and join us," said Pepper, already getting up to meet him with a glass in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other.

"Yes, you can come and give us your opinion of the rebuild designs that I've just perfected," Tony added in his usual self-satisfied tone.

Pepper rolled her eyes as she poured Bruce a drink and handed him the full glass. "Sorry, Bruce, you're probably tired after a hard day in the lab and don't want to hear about what Tony's working on."

Bruce gave her an understanding smile. "It's okay. I could use the distraction. So what makes this design so much better than the last one?"

Tony's eyes were glued to the image of the new tower. "Come and see for yourself. First of all, you've got your own apartment, right underneath this one, but I didn't stop there. I know Rogers is still living in the past, and Thor needs a place to stay when he's slumming it on Earth, so I thought they'd need somewhere to crash when they're in New York too. Then I decided that I couldn't leave out our two black-clad friends, so I've got apartments for them too. Basically I'm renaming the place. I mean the media have almost done it for me already. They keep referring to it as Avengers Tower so I guess we might as well go with it."

He turned around the model so that Bruce could see it too. The new letters at the top of the tower said "Avengers" where once they had proclaimed "Stark" in equally huge letters.

"Wow," said Bruce, unable to form a coherent thought at that moment just because of the sheer audacity of Tony's new naming scheme.

"Yeah, I know. It's so simple and yet so totally awesome. Perfect for me really."

"Tony," said Pepper in warning tones.

Tony ignored her. "And not only will everyone have their own apartments but I'm going to build training rooms, a shooting range for Red and Bird-brain, an infirmary for getting patched up after saving the world, and new state-of-the-art labs for us."

"Don't we have those already?" asked Bruce tentatively.

"Please," said Tony. "Our labs are so last year and I miss my cars."

"Cars?" said Bruce with bafflement. "In a sky scraper?"

"Sometimes I find it's better to just not ask," said Pepper, sitting down with her own glass of champagne.

Bruce nodded. "So, it's sort of a community living thing? When are the others moving in?"

Stark's face quirked into a strange smile. "Well, I still need to send out the invites, and to be honest I'm not certain that they're going to be that enthusiastic."

Bruce raised his eyebrows, in mock surprise.

Stark continued. "Actually I thought maybe you could help me out there. The two of us would be a great team."

"Why exactly do we want everyone to move in to the same building? I'm not sure we actually get on well enough for that kind of close proximity living."

The look on Tony's face was suddenly much more serious. "Because, Bruce, this is what the SHIELD files say about our fellow Avengers." Tony gestured at the lower part of the screen and then threw the information into the room for Bruce to read as holograms. Bruce frowned at the invasion of privacy, but wasn't surprised that Tony didn't care. "I'd suggest that you just read Barton's entry as a good enough reason to do something, but our star spangled friend is almost looking as bad, and Romanoff is doing a good job of hiding her issues but she's not as good as she thinks. I'd be willing to bet the Malibu house that Thor isn't having much fun on his own in Asgard either, after his own brother tried to kill him."

Bruce had the information in front of him so he read as he spoke.

"Setting aside your complete disregard for our team mates' privacy for the moment, which admittedly I'm now compounding, it's not surprising that we're having a few issues. We spent an afternoon being shot at by an invading alien army. That doesn't mean that us moving in together is a great plan either," said Bruce.

"No, but it has to be better than watching the people that saved New York, and lived to tell the tale, give up on life one by one, because I can tell you that's what is happening here. Hell, I'll hire a fleet of damn shrinks if it's going to mean Barton never has another sleepless night." Tony had put down his glass on the table, indicating part of Barton's SHIELD psychiatric evaluation, and was looking seriously at Bruce now. "You all stood beside me and had my back that day. The least I can do is offer everyone a place to stay when they're in New York."

Pepper interjected, "Tony thinks that you are the only people who can really understand what it was like, so getting everyone together is the best way to deal with, well, the aftermath of saving the world."

Bruce gave a shrug. "It's an interesting approach, and I suppose you have a point. I know we've both got our own stuff going on, so we might benefit from it too."

"Hey, I'm fine," said Tony. "I'm used to saving the world. It's the rest of you misfits that I'm worried about."

The glance that Pepper sent Tony told Bruce that this was probably an out and out lie, but he wasn't going to call the billionaire on it. He'd nearly died diverting a nuclear weapon into a portal of unknown destination, so it seemed extremely unlikely that would have had no impact on him at all. However, setting that aside, maybe Tony did, in his own strange way, have something.

"So are you in?" asked Tony.

"Sure, why not. It would be nice to have some more company," said Bruce, and realised almost immediately that he'd allowed one of his own personal issues air. He'd been lonely in India, and coming to Stark Tower had allowed him to believe that perhaps he didn't have to be any longer.

Tony smiled, and Bruce hoped that he wasn't going to regret this.

* * *

Steve Rogers was Tony's first target. From what Tony had read, Steve had had some difficulty adapting to the modern world after his defrosting from the ice. Tony liked to make fun of his lack of ability to understand computers and other bits of technology but really he did get some of the culture shock that the super soldier was experiencing, although in reverse. There was nothing like being locked in a cave to make you appreciate the modern world. He had been so damn glad to get back to civilisation after his time in captivity, but of course the Captain could never go home.

Apparently even though Captain America had found a cause with the Avengers, Steve Rogers was still struggling with being a man out of time. He was living in an apartment in New York as close as he could get to his old neighbourhood, and he had as little technology as he could get away with. The guy didn't even own a television and the only time he ever left his apartment was to buy supplies. This man was a hero and he was living like a hermit.

Tony was pretty much certain that if he could convince Steve to come to the Tower then the rest would be easy, a theory which of course was then proven wrong on multiple occasions. But at the moment Tony knocked on Steve's apartment door, he still believed that this would be the toughest task of them all because he was pretty sure the Captain didn't like him. Whilst it wasn't that unusual for people to dislike him, he tended to rub people up the wrong way, he hoped that saving the world together might help his cause. However Iron Man did things very differently to Captain America, and he couldn't see them ever being best buddies.

Steve took a while to open the door. When he did, the look of shock on his face was so comic book that Tony wished that he'd had a camera to take a picture with. Steve was dressed in a plain white t-shirt and fawn pants, with bare feet. Behind Steve, Tony could see a pristine apartment, devoid of any sort of personal items, but furnished with what he would consider to be "retro" furniture. Of course to Steve this was probably just what he'd been used to before being frozen in the ice for seventy years.

"Stark," said Steve, when he'd schooled his expression into a more natural one. "What are you doing here? Fury didn't call…"

"Fury didn't send me, and don't worry, Chicken Little, the sky isn't falling. At least I don't think it is and probably not today. The Avengers are not required. I just thought I'd stop by, see how you're doing in your new place," said Stark, looking up and down the dingy hall as he said this, with clear dissatisfaction. "SHIELD did a great job on the accommodation I see."

Steve stuck his head out the door and checked both ways, before he pulled Tony into his apartment and shut the door behind him. "This is supposed to be a top secret location. No one is supposed to know that Captain America lives here and you coming in here shouting about SHIELD and the Avengers isn't really going to help that. How did you find me anyway?"

"I hacked SHIELD," said Tony, nonchalantly. He began to wander around Steve's room picking up the few items that lay around and inspecting them whilst eyeing up the 40s colour scheme and furniture. The couch was a particularly horrible sort of sludge green colour, and a pile of aging newspapers sat on the coffee table.

"Did you get this stuff out of a museum? This is no way to live, Rogers, no way at all. Now if you were to come down to Stark Tower…" He stopped himself and smiled, with a glance back to Steve. "Sorry Avengers Tower, I'm renaming it. Anyway, if you were to visit once in a while instead of hiding out here like some sort of social leper, then I'd happily offer you the pick of the new rooms that I'm constructing."

"What are you talking about, Tony?" Steve padded over to the couch with an exasperated sigh, and sat down as he watched Tony continue to wander about his living room.

"I thought that serum was supposed to turn you into a super soldier. That's what Dad used to tell me anyway, when he was going on and on about what a great guy you were. I guess it didn't include making you any smarter. I'm offering you some place to live that isn't stuck in the past."

"Howard said that about me? He really said that I was a great guy?" Steve asked seemingly missing the main point of Tony's small speech entirely.

"Yes, on numerous occasions." Tony's wandering came to a halt along with his good mood. Sometimes he wished that he had a better handle on what actually came out of his mouth. He really hadn't wanted his father to come up in this discussion, but somehow when Captain America was around, he always did. Tony moved over to the couch and rather awkwardly sat down beside Steve.

"But you're not him," said Steve, a little sadly. "It's no secret that you don't like me much, Stark. Why would you want to offer me a room in one of your buildings?"

Tony gave a slight shrug in his Armani suit. "I have this theory that we're all screwed up in some way and that the best way to sort that out is for us to be in the same place."

Steve looked a little puzzled. "Barracks living isn't really my favourite type of arrangement, and I'm not sure how us being together is going to solve any of my problems."

"Well first of all, I may have said room when I actually meant floor, and secondly, this place here is one of your major problems. I know SHIELD think that this is going to acclimatise you slowly to the real world that's out there, but I don't see how that's going to work when you aren't actually experiencing any of it. I mean what happens when we're fighting the bad guys and something from this century needs doing, but you don't know how? Am I going to have to talk you through it like back on the helicarrier? We might not have time for that, we barely did with the engine down."

Steve frowned. "I've got a lot to catch up on," he indicated the newspapers on the table with a flick of his fingers. "And I don't feel ready to face your technological paradise yet. To me this is all Science Fiction. On top of that, I've lost the woman that I loved and all my friends. Pretty much everyone that I have ever known is dead, Stark. Including your father, who I respected greatly." He took a deep breath. "Tell me how moving into the Tower is going to help with any of that."

Tony fixed Steve with a knowing look. "Honestly, I don't know, but maybe you'll make some new friends. I know I'm not my father. God damn it, wasn't I reminded of that a lot when I was growing up, but I am a Stark and that has to count for something, right?"

Steve didn't answer, he just looked at his hands, so Tony took that as leave to continue.

"Banner's in and I bet he doesn't have many friends left either. What with becoming a giant green monster with an apparently severely limited vocabulary and poor social skills. That's bound to put a crimp on your Facebook friend count. I bet there was an en mass defriending of Doctor Banner the first day the Other Guy came out to play, so I'm pretty sure you're not going to be the only one with a thin address book. Plus, me, of course. It's written in my file, you know, officially, that I have no friends and don't play well with others."

Steve had let Tony work his way through this diatribe, some of which he probably didn't even understand. He paused a moment and then spoke, just as Tony thought he'd have to fill the conversational void again.

"I need to think about it. I can't tell you today and I'm not sure when I'll be ready, if I ever am."

It wasn't the answer that Tony had been hoping for, but he supposed it would do for now. He nodded in a pretence of understanding, because really he'd never get why Rogers would want to live in this place, but he would give the man the room he needed for now.

"Okay, just give me a call when you change your mind," he said and pulled out one of his special business cards that had his personal cell phone number on them. He dropped it on the table and headed for the door, letting himself back into the drab hallway. He was actually very unsure how the encounter had gone, it seemed that Captain America was harder to read than he'd first thought.

Two days later he still hadn't had a call from Steve, and in fact never did get one, because JARVIS informed him that Captain Rogers was asking for him at the reception desk of the newly re-christened Avengers Tower. Steve moved his stuff in the same day, even though Tony explained that his apartment wouldn't be ready for another month. The super soldier just said he'd be fine in one of the many spare rooms that Tony had to offer instead.

Then Tony sat him down with Pepper and the plans for his new apartment, and the two of them went through what Steve would like, because Tony was determined that the heroes who saved Earth should have their dream pad in his Tower. It didn't surprise him that Steve wanted very little, he had seen the small kit bag that he'd arrived with and the apartment it came from. So he decided that he would create the accommodation that Steve had asked for and then he added a few extra touches that he was pretty sure Steve would love.


	2. Chapter 2

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: A big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and to all those who decided to follow and favourite this story. We get to Hawkeye in this chapter, plus some Black Widow and more Bruce.

* * *

Bruce was more sensible than Tony. He knew that persuading Steve would be the easy task. The hard ones would be Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff. Tony seemed to think that he might have a better chance of persuading the two assassins and given how well Tony and Natasha got on normally, he had to agree.

To make matters even more clear cut, he'd been invited back to the helicarrier to look at a project that Professor Selvig was working on to do with what they'd learnt from the tesseract. This would be the perfect opportunity to hunt down Natasha and have a word with her about their plans for Avengers Tower.

He got his opportunity during his first lunch break when he saw Natasha eating her lunch too, sat tucked in a corner of helicarrier's mess hall. He collected his own tray of food and then headed for her table.

"Agent Romanoff, do you mind if I join you?" he gave her a tentative, but hopeful smile.

If she was at all surprised to see him then she didn't show it and inclined her head to indicate the seat opposite her. "Doctor Banner, what brings you back so soon?"

Banner sat and placed his tray on the table with a small amount of apprehension. "Oh you know, gamma radiation, the tesseract, all that sort of stuff. Doctor Selvig remembers a few things from his time under Loki's control and he's come up with a new project to channel something similar to tesseract energy… Sorry, you don't really want all the details."

"Actually, this is probably the most interesting conversation that I'm likely to get around here," she speared a particularly unfortunate green bean with her fork menacingly. Bruce had never realised that it might be possible to eat vegetables with prejudice. She didn't elaborate further on what was clearly a reference to something that might be causing her bad mood.

"Uh, so how have you been? Since, you know, saving the planet and, uh, shawarma," said Bruce.

"Fine," replied Natasha. The single word was so devoid of any nuance of emotion that Bruce really had nothing to help him with whether things had been fine or not. Her body language was still somewhat annoyed though and he didn't think that it was at him.

"What are you doing at the moment? If you can tell me that is." Bruce poked at his own meal before meeting Natasha's eyes.

Bruce realised that he'd hit a nerve, or perhaps even thee nerve, as she answered with a derogatory tone. "I'm training new recruits. They're greener than grass and dumber than a bag of hammers. This group is going to take a while to whip into shape and it's all on me."

Bruce frowned. "I'm surprised. I thought that SHIELD would have you out saving the world again."

"Yes, you might think that," she said cryptically.

"So why don't they?" asked Bruce, realising that perhaps this was the worst question he could ask the moment it left his mouth.

Natasha didn't take his head off though, she sighed and shrugged. "Two reasons. One, I passed my psych eval, and two, Clint didn't."

Bruce frowned. "I don't understand."

Natasha rolled her eyes and resumed eating her lunch. "Doctor, I'm good enough at this game that passing a psych eval is child's play for me, whether I should pass or not. The problem is that on this occasion they really, really think that I shouldn't have passed. I was almost killed by the Hulk, my own partner, Loki, and the Chitauri. So now they want me to take some down time before I'm sent back on active missions in case something takes a while to surface. That is my fault, I should have given them some small neurosis to point at and play with."

"Okay, that makes sense, I guess, sort of, but I don't understand how Clint failing his psych evaluation affects you," said Bruce. "You don't always go on missions together, do you?"

"No, we're not always partnered," said Natasha. "But they're concerned about him and whether Loki's control really is broken. I am probably the only person on this thing that could take him down if he did go rogue again, and they know that I'd do anything to make sure he doesn't leave the helicarrier, because the last thing I want for him is to have more deaths on his conscience."

Bruce frowned. "The influence of the Tesseract is gone. It doesn't seem likely that he'd have a relapse without Loki using the spear on him again."

Natasha nodded. "I know that, but Clint himself is less certain and he's tying himself up in knots over it. Since he isn't even defending himself it's making it hard for those of us who are to make our voices heard."

She paused, clearly trying to decide whether she should tell Bruce something more. She looked down at her food, studying the remains of her meal. Bruce just gave her time to sort whatever it was out. She finally looked up at him.

"He asked me to end him if his eyes turn blue again."

Bruce took a sharp intake of breath. "I didn't realise…" he couldn't finish the sentence because he wasn't actually sure what he had been going to say. He knew that this experience must have hurt Clint deeply, but he didn't know the archer well. He had only met him briefly before the battle and then at their impromptu shawarma outing afterwards, by which point everyone was tired and quiet. He had very little to go on for what was normal for Clint.

"He doesn't want to hurt anymore people," said Natasha, simply. "If I was in his place I might well have asked the same of him."

Bruce shook his head. "SHIELD haven't locked him up again, have they?"

Natasha shook her head too, quickly. "No, they wouldn't do that to him. To be honest they don't have to. He's in no state to hurt anyone except himself." She leant back in her chair, and fixed Bruce with a dark look. "He hasn't been sleeping properly, for days. I sedated him myself this morning after he pretty much broke down on the firing range, and he's currently sleeping under heavy sedation in the medical section. I was the only one he'd let anywhere near him and it pretty much killed me to stick a needle in his arm."

Bruce's appetite had disappeared rapidly as Natasha spoke. "You did the right thing. I knew things were bad, I didn't realise how bad…"

Natasha's face was almost unreadable, but her eyes flashed repressed anger for just a second. It wasn't at him, he understood that, but at what she had been forced to do for Clint that morning. What the situation had reduced her to doing to someone who trusted her. She looked away.

"Tony sent you, didn't he?" said Natasha, phrasing the statement as a question, before returning to poking at her food.

"Well, I wouldn't say sent, but he did want me to ask you something. He's come to the conclusion that we're all broken in one way or another. Some of us more than others. I actually think he might have something there. He thinks we should all move into Stark Tower and try to help one another through it. Captain Rogers has been having a few issues too apparently and you know about me…" Bruce hoped Natasha wouldn't probe too deeply, but he needed her to understand that it wasn't just her and Barton alone who were facing demons.

"And Stark? Or did he just find the flight with the nuclear missile exhilarating?"

"Tony, is, well, Tony. He's struggling too, but he'd never admit it," said Bruce.

Natasha gave an unladylike snort of laughter. "His arc reactor was poisoning him for months and he didn't say a word to anyone. It took Fury to work it out, and then he got him pointed in the right direction and Iron Man was back, just like that. Pepper nearly killed him when she found out."

Bruce sighed. That did sound like something Tony would be stupid enough to do. Natasha's good humour had faded rapidly though. "Maybe now isn't the best time to talk about the two of you moving to the Tower. Perhaps Clint just needs some more time to readjust…" Bruce started.

"I don't know. The helicarrier probably has some bad memories. He might heal faster somewhere else, but I'm not sure that place is anywhere near Tony Stark," said Natasha.

"Well, think about it. Tony's not that bad to live with, once you learn to ignore him, and I've survived a fortnight without killing him or hulking out," replied Bruce with the beginnings of a smile on his lips. "He's also got apartments planned out for all of us, so it's not like we'd be on top of each other."

"I'll think about it," said Natasha, "and I'll let Clint know the option is available. Although SHIELD might want him to stay here a bit longer, at least until he's sleeping better."

Bruce nodded miserably. "Do you think he'd be likely to wake up any time in the next twenty-four hours? I'd like to see him before I head back to the Tower."

"You'll have to ask the doctors. They said something about chronic insomniacs needing to realign their sleep patterns, so he was going to be under until tomorrow morning."

Bruce nodded. He was at least familiar with the theory of treating chronic insomnia, although Barton seemed to be taking it to extremes. "I'll drop by and ask them."

Natasha nodded in reply and Bruce realised that she had obviously been eating while she talked without him really noticing, because she was nearly done. She finished off the last morsels and began to methodically stack her tray.

"Thank Tony for his offer and tell him Clint will think about it when he's better. I'm not the type for communal living. I prefer being broken on my own."

Bruce hadn't quite expected such a blunt statement, but he nodded. "I understand, Agent Romanoff. I'll let him know."

"If you want to stay on the helicarrier until Clint wakes up, I can clear it with Fury and let medical know that you'll be stopping by." Natasha got to her feet.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Uh, well they could still use me in the labs here, so yes, that would be good."

She gave him a sharp inclination of her head and picked up her tray. "I'll make the arrangements. He has a habit of trying to leave medical as soon as he can actually walk out under his own power, so I normally try to be there well before he's likely to wake up. I've got a class to attend to this time though, so honestly, you'll be doing me a favour."

With that she left Bruce to his lunch, knowing that he'd already failed on at least one part of his mission. Natasha Romanoff was going to be a tough nut to crack.

* * *

Clint awoke in medical. He expected to be restrained again, but he wasn't. He felt groggy and like he'd slept for too long. His head refused to clear and he was having trouble working out why he was here. He was wearing SHIELD medical's standard issue pyjamas under the crisply white sheets, so he'd been here a while. There was an IV in the back of his hand but he didn't seem to be injured…

It took him three long blinks for it all to come flooding back to him, and he couldn't help but groan. He'd been so tired, but somehow sleep wouldn't come because the cold blue of Loki's mind control was waiting for him there. Just being on the helicarrier reminded him on a daily basis of his actions, but he refused to let Loki win. He'd heard of exposure therapy and this was his own version of it. Although it was actually becoming a form of self torture. Maybe he deserved it.

He didn't remember clearly all of his time under Loki's control, and it had begun to irritate him to the point that he had to know. The broad brush strokes were there pretty plainly but some parts were just glimpses, fragmented and transitory. If he concentrated hard then he could pull out exact moments, but it was like pulling teeth. It was painful, sometimes literally. His head ached, pain lancing through his mind if he touched the wrong memory. This ensured that parts of what he had done were simply irretrievable, and he wanted those parts back. He had to know what he'd done.

The lack of sleep and the pushing himself to remember had combined badly. He just couldn't stop thinking about Loki, about what he'd been trying to do and how, about the people he'd killed unjustly, about the battle and the Chitauri. He found himself checking the shadows for Chitauri, then for Loki, and neglecting himself. Natasha had been dragging him to the mess hall when she was around, but otherwise he had a habit of forgetting to eat. He tried to maintain his normal schedule, but it wasn't working. The only time he felt any peace was with his bow in his hands, down on the firing range.

This time it just hadn't happened. He'd started shaking and he couldn't draw his bow. His eyesight was blurring and he could hardly see the target. He was just too tired. He'd chased everyone out of the firing range, seeing Chitauri in every corner. He could practically hear Loki laughing at him as he succumbed to his own inner demons, shouting at things that apparently weren't there.

At some point Natasha arrived and he was very glad to see her, but he just couldn't stop his brain telling him that he was in a bad situation and he had to get out of it. His heart was racing and he was in full fight or flight mode. Even Natasha approached him with caution, so he knew he was acting out of character. He didn't even see the needle that she stuck him with, he was so far off his game, but he did feel it. He heard Natasha's apology, spoken in Russian because she really meant it, and then he was falling. The lack of bruises meant that Natasha had caught him. His head was aching though, but it had been aching for a while.

He looked around the room and was a little surprised when he saw someone sitting at his bedside. Someone that wasn't Natasha. He couldn't help but stare. Doctor Bruce Banner sat reading a journal entitled "Radiation Physics Series A", making notes in the margin with a pencil as he went. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and was about to continue when he looked up and met Clint's eyes.

"Uh, hi, Agent Barton." Bruce closed the journal that he was reading, shutting the pencil inside.

"Doctor Banner," breathed Clint. He frowned. His voice sounded sleepy, even though he'd just woken up. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, Professor Selvig wanted my help with a project that he's working on, so SHIELD asked me to come to the helicarrier."

"No, what are you doing here, in my room?"

"Oh, filling in for Agent Romanoff. She had a class to take and wanted someone to be here when you woke up. And I wanted to talk to you anyway." Bruce took his glasses off, folded them and put them in his top pocket.

Clint sighed. "This may not be the best time." He looked up at his IV, wondering what was in the bag of clear liquid that dripped into his vein.

"Actually I think this might be a very good time. Agent Romanoff told me that you're not sleeping and what happened to put you here. I think it's pretty clear that you need some help."

"I'm talking to the shrinks," said Barton.

"Good, that's a start, but we both know that it isn't enough. Having someone else take over your head isn't something that you just shrug off. Your doctor was also kind enough to extend medical confidentiality to me regarding some brain scans that he took. He was hoping that I might have an insight because of my work on the tesseract. I couldn't help much, but Agent Romanoff told him something that got me thinking. You may not remember, but apparently when she sedated you, you kept saying that your head hurt. Have you been having headaches? A lot, I mean?"

Barton frowned, a little surprised by the question. He hadn't told the doctors about the constant headaches. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"The brain scan seemed to show that certain areas of your memory aren't talking to others in the way they should be. If you've been trying to access them, I'm not surprised that you've been experiencing pain. I've had an interest in trying to retrieve suppressed memories for a while now, for, uh, obvious reasons." Bruce looked down at his hands.

He understood Bruce's reluctance to discuss his alter ego, he felt the same way when he talked about what he'd done whilst Loki had control of his head.

"You'd like to know what the Other Guy does," said Barton.

Bruce nodded. "It's a side line, but if I can't cure myself then perhaps I can control the Hulk. Better at least. I'd be willing to look into your headaches too."

"Thanks, Doc, but I don't think not knowing is my problem. It's part of it, sure, but it's not what stops me sleeping on a daily basis. It's mostly the stuff that I know I did," said Barton, with resignation.

"Agent Barton, you're living inside the scene of a crime that you were forced to commit against your will. Why are you still here?"

"It's my home. Sort of."

Bruce shook his head. "No, you could have a room in any SHIELD base you choose. Why did you decide to come back to this one?"

"The New Mexico base is a crater. That was where I was stationed last. I've always stayed here in-between assignments, and Natasha was here. I thought having a friend here might help." He rolled his head back to the centre of the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. "All it actually meant was that she was here to stick a needle in my arm when I finally had my melt down." Clint was glad that Bruce didn't point out that it was a good thing that she was, however he did point out a few other things.

"You've been abusing both your mind and your body. Honestly, you're lucky to be alive. People suffering from PTSD have an increased risk of suicide amongst other things. So, yes, having a friend around was a good idea, seeing the psychiatrists was a good idea, but I don't think you've actually been listening to what either of them have said. You're too busy beating yourself up for what you were forced to do," said Bruce, and he sounded totally serious and a little displeased.

"Really? And what would you know? Have you ever had someone scoop your brains out and put their own agenda inside your head?" He was angry and didn't really think before he spoke but, as soon as the words left his mouth, he realised the stupidity of them. He was talking to Doctor Bruce Banner, a man who became the Hulk when he got angry.

"Yes, quite frequently," replied Banner, placidly.

"Sorry," said Clint. "I keep forgetting."

Bruce just smiled. "Some things are good to forget, others we just wish we could. Some things we desperately want to remember, but we can't."

Clint wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't say anything. He was finding it strangely easy to talk to Bruce about things that he'd barely even told Natasha. Bruce waited a few moments to see if he would respond, maintaining eye contact, but when he didn't, he continued.

"Look, Tony has an idea. He wants us all to move into Stark Tower. I think it might help you." Bruce watched him closely for his reaction.

"I'm not sure how living with Tony Stark is going to help me get over Loki fucking with my head," said Clint, frankly. He really wasn't sure why Bruce thought that this might actually be a good idea.

"Well, firstly, because it would get you out of here. Secondly, Tony has this theory that we can all be broken together and maybe help each other. You know that we've got common ground, that has to be worth something. And thirdly, Tony genuinely wants to help you, and this is a man who your partner described as "text book narcissistic". He really thinks that the Avengers Initiative is worth saving."

Clint frowned. "Why does it need saving?"

"I'm not sure that I can really explain that without breaking the confidences of all involved. Tony may not care about hacking confidential files to get what he needs, but I take confidentiality very seriously." Bruce paused. "I've asked your doctor if he'll allow me to take over your primary care for a while and he agreed if you give your permission. Full disclosure, I have a medical degree and I put it to good use while I was in India, but I skipped the clinical training and stuck to research. I moved into Radiology and then got caught up in Gamma radiation studies. I'm a Doctor because I have a doctorate in Physics. It's not a done deal, you can always say "no" and I'll back off, but I think I can help you. More, probably, than they can here."

Clint raised an eyebrow, but he had to admit that nothing else was really working at the moment. "Doc, I'm pretty much out of options. What did you have in mind?"

"Why don't you come back to Stark Tower with me and then we can work out the details? If you don't like it then SHIELD always has a bunk for you back here."

Clint considered himself to be pretty good at reading people, although admittedly he was tired and he was desperate for anyone to finally put his fears about Loki to bed. Bruce seemed to be genuine, in both his offer of help and his sincerity that he should move into Stark Tower. At this point he had so little to lose that he might as well try it out and see if it helped. He was pretty sure that things couldn't get much worse at the moment.

"Someone should give you a job selling something, Doctor Banner," said Clint. "You'd be damn good at it. Let me know when you're leaving and I'll be waiting in the hangar for you, assuming that I'm allowed out of here. But I guess that's your call, if you're my doctor."

Bruce smiled. "If we're going to be living in the same building then you should probably start calling me Bruce."

"Clint, I'm Clint," replied the Archer.

Bruce nodded. "As you're being released into my care, they're happy to let you go as soon as you're feeling okay. You were dehydrated and your electrolytes were all over the place, so that's what the IV is for and it can come out any time. I wouldn't be surprised if you felt a little dizzy and nauseous the first time you try to stand though."

Clint only half listened to what Bruce said after "happy to let you go", so he was caught by surprised when the room reeled around him as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Bruce was on his feet and had an arm out to catch him before he ended up on the floor.

"Okay," said Clint. "I promise that is the last time I ignore what you have to say."

It was Bruce's turn to raise his eyebrows. "I think I'll believe that when I see it. Meet me at the hangar in two hours, unless you want me to help you collect your things?"

Clint shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine." He really didn't have much here anyway. The few belongings that he had carried around with him were now buried at the bottom of a crater in New Mexico, along with his self-respect and ability to sleep properly at night.

Bruce left him to get dressed. And after that a nurse came in to remove the IV line and give him his clothes back. He went into the bathroom to change and one look in the mirror told him that he'd made the right decision. He looked pretty bad, pale and sickly looking. He decided that he'd better pull himself together enough to go talk to Natasha before he left for New York. She'd be pissed at him if he left without saying goodbye.


	3. Chapter 3

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: Thank you to everyone for your kind reviews. Every one is cherished and appreciated. This chapter features Tony, Clint and Bruce. Next chapter will be Steve, Clint and Natasha. Thor will be making an appearance in later chapters but he's got to get back from Asgard first.

* * *

Tony was only a little bit surprised to find an archer in his kitchen when he came down to breakfast the next morning. Bruce had called to let him know that he'd persuaded Clint to return to New York with him, but he'd sort of expected him to be less than enthusiastic about company.

Bruce had also mentioned that he'd had to negotiate a few rules with SHIELD to get them to release Clint to his care, and Tony and Steve had also had to agree to them. It included that one of the three Avengers currently living at the Tower would always have to be in residence whilst Clint was staying there. One of them would also have to accompany him if he wanted to go out anywhere too. Both conditions were imposed until Barton was declared psychologically fit, and apparently Barton had also agreed to all this willingly, which had surprised Tony. If the Avengers were called out then SHIELD would send an agent to babysit, but essentially Clint was in their care. Both Fury and Clint's doctors had signed off on it, and Tony wasn't quite sure how Bruce had managed to get everyone to agree to it.

There was one bit that Clint had objected to, but of course had ended up agreeing to anyway because, really, he had no choice. SHIELD had refused to let him have weapons outside of the firing range, once he'd failed his psychiatric evaluation, and apparently that hadn't gone down well. Tony could understand that, after he'd already stood on a roof with his bow shooting Chitauri out of the air for several hours.

Tony wasn't entirely certain if the rules were to protect Clint from himself or other people from Clint. From his medical records Clint hadn't shown any sign of hurting anyone, but he had been rather remiss in his own personal care. However, the message was clear; SHIELD considered Clint Barton to be mentally unstable. Clint Barton only cared about being able to shoot his bow, and not what happened to him. It was an interesting insight into the mind of the archer and one that Tony thought they probably needed to work on.

"Legolas!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, by way of greeting. "I'm glad you could make it. Bruce showed you your temporary accommodation?"

Clint practically jumped out of his skin, and started reaching for the firearm that was normally strapped to his leg (but, of course, wasn't there). He froze when he saw that it was only his host, and relaxed a little, although even then he still seemed tense. Tony reminded himself to make more noise when he came into the room next time, although with the deep pile carpets that might be tricky in some rooms.

"Uh, yes. It's, er, big," said Clint, apparently not feeling talkative.

"That's nothing compared to what you'll have when we get the renovations completed. You should sit down with Pepper and let her give you the run down," said Tony as he headed for the coffee machine. "I'll set it up. She'll get you anything you want and probably some stuff you didn't know you wanted."

Tony took a moment to really look at his new house guest, as he poured himself a mug of coffee. Quite frankly he looked ill. He'd lost weight since he last saw him, just a few weeks ago. It wasn't a lot but it was enough that he could tell that Clint hadn't been eating properly. He approached the counter where Clint sat on a high stool, and found that he was reading something on one of the Stark Pads that he'd left in Clint's room. He noted that it hadn't taken Clint long to work out how to use it, or access what he needed, which was apparently the security plans for the Tower.

"JARVIS, did you give Legolas access to our security files?"

"Yes, sir," replied the AI.

"Erm, security breech, JARVIS. He doesn't have clearance for those files – no disrespect intended, Barton."

"Agent Barton suggested a number of improvements to the security arrangements during his elevator ride to the penthouse with Doctor Banner yesterday evening. Doctor Banner requested that I grant him access so that he could assess the existing arrangements properly."

"Oh," said Tony. "You've already met JARVIS then. Hang on, when did you start doing what Bruce asks you to do, J?"

"Since Miss Potts added him and Captain Rogers to the list of authorised personnel. I conducted the required risk assessment and found Agent Barton's access to the security files to be within acceptable risk parameters given his known affiliations and associates. As a member of the Avengers, Agent Barton has an additional pre-existing clearance level within the system."

JARVIS's British accent could be particularly supercilious sounding at times like this, times when Tony had programmed something into the AI and then totally forgotten that he'd done it. He would then usually be reminded of something important, like the fact that he'd granted all the Avengers a basic level of clearance for the Tower before the battle of Manhattan, just in case there was some unforeseen circumstance.

"Okay then," said Tony. "I guess you're fine. As you were, or whatever it is they say in SHIELD."

"This is why I wanted to take a look at your security arrangements," said Clint. "Actually they aren't as bad as I thought they might be. Although we should probably make sure JARVIS doesn't have any other loopholes in his programming which mean that people like me can read files that they shouldn't."

"I think we just established that it's fine for you to read my security files," said Stark, as he sipped his coffee. "JARVIS has access to your SHIELD file, so he knows who you are. Stark Tower has levels of clearance and the Avengers get quite a high ranking. There's another level that's just Pepper and me, and one above that that's just me. If you'd have asked me, I'd have given you access anyway. It's just that I'm so awesome that I'd already anticipated that you'd want access and JARVIS took care of it for me."

"Whatever you say, Stark," said Clint. "You could still do with tightening things up a bit."

"Tony," said Tony. "My friends call me Tony, and so does anyone who lives in one of my guest rooms. You're Clint, right? Or do you prefer Hawkeye?"

"Hawkeye's my codename. Clint will do fine." He was still studying the pad.

"I bet Bruce forgot to give you the tour yesterday. Come on, I'll show you around." Tony beckoned to Clint. The archer reluctantly put down the Stark pad and followed Tony as he moved towards the door. "So, obviously you found the kitchen. Let's see. A lot of this is work in progress, because, you know…"

"It got blown up by Chitauri," said Clint.

"Yeah, they made quite a mess," said Tony. "That was mostly in the lounge but at least it isn't open to the elements anymore. We got the new glass in a few weeks back. Anyway, that's not really that exciting." Tony gave Clint a rapid tour of the home cinema, dining room and the labs, as well as outlining where some of the new facilities would go and then took him back to the lounge area where he knew Pepper was working on the Tower upgrades.

"Hey, Pepper," he shouted as they stepped out of the elevator. He could already see that she had the holographic blueprints out on the coffee table. "Perhaps you could show Clint the plans for the firing range and his apartment. I thought you could share your floor with Red Sonja. You two seem to get on okay. Bruce is getting his own floor, because he needs the extra lab space, and I thought he'd like a library. One with actual books in. That man is obsessed with the printed word."

Pepper smiled at Clint, just as Tony had known she would. She hadn't ever complained or told him that he couldn't have the Avengers move into the Tower, she'd just asked him if he was sure and then backed his every move. Right now she was sharing her living space with a Hulk, a Super Soldier and a mentally unstable archer, and she has taken it all in her stride. As far as Tony was concerned the woman was totally amazing and he never knew why she put up with him. He should probably tell her that more.

"Clint, it's good to finally meet you," said Pepper, standing up to greet their new addition. She held out a hand and Clint shook it somewhat cautiously. He was too busy looking around the room, with not a small amount of trepidation, as if the shadows might hold monsters. Which of course they had once had the potential to do, but it had been weeks since the portal to the other galaxy had shut down.

Pepper was continuing. "Tony said that you'd need a range to shoot on, and a gym to train in. We already have a swimming pool in the Tower basement, and I've set up a temporary range down there as well until the specialised one can be completed. We've got a small gym six floors below this one, but we're going to be refitting it to make it work better for the Avengers. Steve's already proved that Tony needs to find a new design for the punching bags…" Pepper gave him a pointed look. They had talked about this and Tony had promised to fix the problem, but that had been a week ago.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get it done." He sat down to look at the latest additions to the plans. "So Bruce has his library, Cap's got his art studio, I've got my cars. What do you do for fun, Clint? And you're not allowed to say archery."

Clint frowned. He was looking a little… trapped, yes, trapped was definitely the word. He had wrapped his well-muscled arms around himself, and was staring at his toes. When he spoke his voice was quieter than normal. "I don't normally get much down time."

"You must get the odd day off? Between missions?"

Clint shrugged, still not looking at Tony. "I like watching movies."

A grin spread across Tony's face, and he clapped his hands together. "Oh yes, this is going to be a lot of fun. Wait until you see what I've got planned for you."

"I really don't need anything special. What you've given me is fine. I don't even have enough stuff to fill one of your cupboards," said Clint, his head snapping up, and a slightly panicked look in his eyes.

"Then we need to do something about that too," said Tony. "Also, because you were late to the party, you've got the smallest guest room I possess, so we can definitely do better than that."

"Stark, uh, Tony, it's about ten times the size of my room back on the helicarrier."

Tony noted that Clint actually sounded like he didn't really want a palatial suite of custom built rooms. He wasn't quite sure what to make of that. What kind of person turned down a luxury apartment made to their own specifications?

"I know, those quarters on the helicarrier were just an insult. Anyway, we can talk about this another time. Why don't we go through those modifications to the security arrangements that you wanted to make?"

Some of the tension left Clint's shoulders. "Okay, I'll go and get my Pad. I left it in the kitchen."

Tony pushed himself up from the sofa, his now empty coffee mug in his hand. "I need more coffee. I'll grab it for you on my way back."

Suddenly Clint had tensed up again and Tony had no idea why. "No, I'll get it myself."

Tony frowned as Clint headed back to the kitchen. Something about this reaction was off, and from the look Pepper exchanged with him, she'd thought the same. Clint had been too quick to move, and the Pad wasn't that important. It would have locked itself and already been keyed to Clint's fingerprints, so Tony couldn't have seen any confidential information that the owner would rather keep to himself. It was puzzling and he always enjoyed a good puzzle. He'd figure out this puzzle called Clint Barton, even if it took him a while. He wondered if a discussion with Bruce was in order here, but that could wait for now.

He got his coffee and then Clint returned to the room with his notes on the security system. Clint seemed to have switched back to something more resembling his usual self, because Tony found the discussion that they then had both enlightening and extremely useful. Clint was suddenly thoroughly professional and his attention to the smallest detail was breath-taking. Tony agreed to implement pretty much all of his suggestions, although a couple he decided were just too much and one in particular would need the agreement of the team.

When the discussion about security refinements was complete, Tony pleaded a work commitment and then threw open his vast movie library as holographic film posters across the room. Well, not all of it, that would have been far too many to choose from, but the top one hundred. He watched as Clint's eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

"Just tell JARVIS what you want and he'll play it for you."

"Thanks," said Clint, already turning over the holograms to see the blurbs written on the backs of each one.

"You know where the cinema is, popcorn's in the kitchen, or there's the TV here in the lounge if you'd rather curl up on the couch."

Pepper had long since moved out of the room to her office a few floors down when it became clear that Clint and Tony were planning to talk, so she wouldn't be disturbed. Tony caught Clint looking somewhat longingly at the large couch and knew which option he'd choose, until now he hadn't really paid attention to just how tired Clint looked. He stepped into the elevator and left the archer to his films.

* * *

Bruce was quite used to Tony wandering into his lab at any time of the day that suited him. He never knocked and very rarely called ahead. It didn't make any difference that there was the potential for Bruce to be working with dangerous substances, Tony apparently had no regard for that eventuality.

Today, Tony wandered in when he had made the mistake of surfing the internet whilst waiting for an experiment to complete. It was a mistake because he had idly decided to search for Dr Elizabeth Ross, to see if he could find out what she was up to. Bruce wasn't even half way quick enough to hide the contents of the screen before Tony saw the picture of Betty that was displayed there.

"Hey there, big man," said Tony, clearly noting the guilty look and rapid closing of the screen, "who's she?"

Bruce sighed. If he lied or hid things now, then one, Tony would probably be able to tell because Bruce was a terrible liar, and two, he'd just go and get JARVIS to find out.

"She's Dr Elizabeth Ross. She used to be my girlfriend, before… well, just before," said Bruce.

"And I guess the Hulk isn't a great draw for the ladies," said Tony, fiddling with a piece of equipment on one of the lab benches.

"It's complicated," said Bruce. "I don't want to hurt her any more than I already have."

"Oh, so she didn't leave you," said Tony, meeting his eyes and very quickly getting what Bruce wasn't saying.

"It's just not viable for me to have a relationship right now," said Bruce.

"Viable?" asked Tony. "What the hell does that mean? You obviously still care about her."

"Can we please just drop this? I don't want to talk about it." Bruce's shoulders were tense, and he really didn't want to open old wounds. Then he pointed out to himself that he _had_ decided to go looking for pictures of Betty, but some days he missed her so much that he just wanted something to help him through.

Tony shrugged. "Sure, for now. This wasn't why I came down here anyway."

Bruce took off his glasses, really he should have expected Tony to come and find him. It was becoming one of the laws of living in close proximity to Tony Stark, thou shalt have no privacy.

"Let me guess, Barton?"

Tony nodded. "Okay, so we want to help him get over this mindfuck of Loki's. That was one of the reasons for bringing him to the Tower. How do we do it? I mean Rogers is easy, we just drag him into the 21st Century, but Clint… I think I might actually be out of my depth with this one. The guy just looks ill, and really tired. And well, his behaviour is a bit odd." Tony explained about the incident with the Pad.

Bruce listened and waited for Tony to finish before he spoke. "First of all, helping Steve is going to take more than just showing off our technology. He needs us to be his friends too. That is going to take time, and he has to grieve for what he lost. Steve is not going to be "easy" to help." Bruce indicated a stool for Tony to sit on. This discussion could take a while.

Tony didn't seem to want to sit down. "Okay, okay, the Capsicle needs love as well as gadgets, I get it. That's still pretty straight forward. The topic of conversation is Clint Barton. He's not sleeping, and short of drugging him like Black Widow did back on the carrier, what do we do? If he goes postal again then SHIELD will probably pull him from active duty permanently. Now I've only known the guy for about five minutes, but I get the impression that his job is his life and not being able to do it would pretty much wipe him out. And the Avengers need their sniper, of course. He was damn useful against the Chitauri."

Bruce shrugged. "Agreed, but that's hardly the reason we're doing this. Look, we can't force Clint to get better; it's going to take time and he has to do it at his own pace. We help by being here for him, with whatever he needs. But it's also going to take time for him to trust us. We should probably be prepared for Clint to get worse before he gets better."

"Really?" asked Tony, sounding a little disheartened. He was wandering around the lab, stopping to examine Bruce's various experiments as he did so. He paused though at Bruce's pronouncement.

Bruce nodded. "In his current mental state, well, he's in pieces. He probably doesn't even know why he wouldn't let you pick up that Pad for him, he just couldn't let it happen."

"Okay, I'll bite. What's your theory on that?" asked Tony.

"Control," said Bruce. "He lost control of his actions when Loki took over his mind, so he's making up for that by taking control of everything that he can. You should have seen him in the Quinjet on the way back here. He hated the fact that they wouldn't let him fly."

"That simple?" asked Tony, already appearing to be thinking it through.

"The human brain is a weird and wonderful place. Sometimes we displace complicated things and reduce them down to their basic parts. It's pretty common with PTSD. For example, soldiers who've spent time in war zones dive for cover every time they hear a loud noise, it doesn't have to be gun fire. _You_ don't like people handing you things…"

"Again, we're not talking about me," said Tony, far too quickly. "Okay, I get the picture. He's going to want to be as independent as possible, which means we have to be careful not to crowd him."

Bruce gave him a mock look of surprise. "I had no idea that Tony Stark could be sensitive to another person's needs."

Tony dismissed Bruce's comment with a look. "Really, I'm not. I just want to make sure that I have Legolas's eyes on a rooftop somewhere next time Fury shouts "Avengers assemble!". Seriously, I'm only one man, an awesome, armour clad, superhero man, but there is just one of me, and I don't have eyes in the back of my head. Not yet, anyway."

"I'm sure it's just a matter of time," replied Bruce, with the smallest trace of a smirk.

"Okay, so PTSD. I'm familiar with the basics, rather annoyingly, intimately so. Nightmares, irrational fears, flashbacks triggered by stupid mundane things, what else?"

"Hypervigilance, probably. Increased startle response, I've witnessed already. Avoidance of anything that reminds him of the event or refusing to talk about the incident, irritability, mood swings, there's a whole list of possible symptoms. He might get none of them, or more likely he'll have several but not all. There are other things specific to his case, but patient confidentially means I can't talk about them," replied Bruce. He hesitated a moment before telling Tony the last, important point about PTSD.

"And?" asked Tony, because he could see that there was something else just by looking at Bruce's eyes. The man was getting far too good at reading him.

"And there is one thing that we should all be aware of, but I don't know if anyone has mentioned to Clint yet," said Bruce, not really wanting to be the one to say it.

"What's that?" asked Tony.

"He might never get better," said Bruce. "Some people have it for life."

"Life? Oh no, that is not happening," said Tony.

"It might not be something that you can do anything about, Tony," said Bruce. He knew that Tony didn't want to believe that Clint might be like this forever, but sometimes the hard truths had to be faced. Clint was very ill and he might not ever recover.

Anger flashed in Tony's eyes as Bruce spoke. "Don't you ever say that. There is always something that can be done. There has to be research being done into this, treatments, drugs…"

Bruce nodded. "Of course, and Clint is already seeing the best psychiatrists that SHIELD has to offer. They did everything right as far as I can see. As soon as he got back from New York they started a specialist treatment program designed just for him. However, it's going to take time to work. He's refused to take any drugs, and I may have to have a discussion with him about that decision. But in the meantime he needs to not be on the helicarrier, and he needs friends. He needs a safe environment where he doesn't feel threatened."

"And that's the Tower, right?" asked Tony.

"If we make it that way," said Bruce.

"We need Romanoff," said Tony. "She knows him best out of all of us, maybe out of anyone ever. We need to persuade her to at least move in on a temporary basis."

"You're out of guest rooms," pointed out Bruce.

"I know, but there's plenty of office space that I can convert until the apartments are ready. It's only a few more weeks."

"I don't know, Natasha seemed pretty set on staying on the helicarrier. She said, and I quote, she "preferred being broken on her own"."

"We'd all prefer to be broken on our own, but honestly, I've tried it and it's not good. You're here and I know you spend half your time worrying about whether you're going to destroy the building – which you're not going to, by the way. And Rogers got over his technophobia to come here. So she can damn well be here too."

"I just find close proximity to people tends to lead to, well, anger. And anger means the Other Guy. Anyway, Romanoff isn't going to join us here unless we can put up a good argument," said Bruce.

"Yeah, I realise that. Maybe we could just say Clint needs her to be here," said Tony.

"I think she'd already be here if that was something that would persuade her. I got the impression that she felt she'd given helping him a go, and now it was our turn. Something else is keeping her on the helicarrier at the moment, and until we work out what that is…"

"She won't be moving in here," finished Tony.


	4. Chapter 4

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: Longer chapter this time. I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Steve had spent the morning working out in the temporary gym and was now hoping to get in some sketching time before lunch, however when he entered the lounge an unusual sight met his eyes. Hanging around the room were holograms, hundreds of them and in the centre of these floating rectangles of coloured light was Clint Barton.

The archer appeared to be scanning the information on each hologram and sorting it to the left or right. The left had a very small number of holograms stacked in a pile. Holograms that were sorted to the right, which seemed to be the majority, were screwed up into a virtual ball and then sent sailing towards a glowing red and blue target that bounced around a corner of the room. Clint wasn't even looking at what he was aiming at, but the projectiles hit every time. JARVIS seemed to be keeping some kind of score, and the target would pulse with light at every hit. Steve stood fascinated for a moment, just watching.

Steve hadn't seen Barton since they said goodbye to Thor and Loki, but of course he'd been briefed on what to expect by Bruce. Tony had merely complained about the "backwards treatment of shellshock" in the 1940s, while Bruce had been considerably more helpful about what PTSD actually was once Tony had left.

Steve had to admit that, like almost everyone from his era, he'd regarded men who ran from war as cowards, but it seemed that things weren't always what they seemed. He had sixty years of accumulated scientific knowledge to catch up on, and that included psychology. In any case, Barton had already shown that he certainly was not a coward, and had faced Loki with the rest of the Avengers, front and centre.

Steve's plan was to treat Barton like any other wounded soldier. He would show him respect and help with his recovery in any way that he could. It didn't make any difference to Steve that it was Clint's mind that had been injured in the battle against Loki.

"I don't bite, Captain," said Barton, not turning away from his task.

Steve realised that he'd been watching for a while, so he stepped forwards to get a closer look. "What are you doing?"

"Choosing a film to watch," said Barton.

"I've never seen anyone do it quite like that," said Steve.

"Want to join me? I've got it narrowed down to five."

"Would I recognise any of them?"

Barton flicked through the small pile on his left, clearly looking for something. "The Maltese Falcon?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, I saw it when it came out."

"Want to see it again?"

"Sure," replied Steve.

"JARVIS could you put it on for us, and get rid of all this for now," said Barton, indicating the holograms.

"Of course, Agent Barton. I will save your choices so far, and the specifications for your targets. Would you and Captain Rogers like a moment to get popcorn before you start viewing?" asked the AI. Steve was still getting used to the idea that a computer could talk, never mind suggest that you might want popcorn for a film.

"Thanks JARVIS, yes, I'll go get some," said Barton, he turned to Steve. "I'll be back in a minute. Get it cued up, JARVIS."

"Yes, Agent Barton," said JARVIS.

Barton left the room briefly, while the TV turned itself on and took a moment to load up the film. Steve still considered this to be some kind of magic, but he knew that it was all explainable. He realised that it he'd never be able to understand it though, even if someone did tell him how it all worked. Everything around him seemed to have a life of its own in this place. The things which the AI didn't directly control had their own basic intelligences, like the cleaning robots which whirred around the place and the toaster that told you how long each piece of bread would take. It was all weird and freakish as far as Steve was concerned.

Barton returned with a large bowl of popcorn, and sat down heavily on the couch. Steve took the other side of the corner couch, enjoying actually having both company and downtime. Usually he actively avoided situations like this because it reminded him too much of what it was once like to have actual friends who respected you and wanted to spend time with you. Today, Barton needed him, so Steve would do what he could and set aside his feelings.

Barton balanced the popcorn between the two of them and JARVIS started the film, dimming the lights and turning the glass of the windows around them opaque. It was nearly as good as being in the proper home cinema on the floor below, although getting to spread out on the couch was a bonus here. The film started and both men were drawn into the action.

It was only about a half hour into the film when Steve realised that Barton was only picking at the popcorn rather than actually attacking it in the same way that Steve was. Fifteen minutes after that Steve realised that Barton had fallen asleep, and then less than ten minutes later was awoken by gun shots in the film. He tried to reach for a non-existent firearm that was not strapped to his leg.

"Hey, it's okay," said Steve, sitting up straight and ready to deal with whatever followed.

"Sorry," said Barton, coming back to himself, "I was more tired than I thought."

"No need to apologise," replied Steve. "We can watch this later if you want to get some sleep."

Clint quickly shook his head. "Nah, I need to try and tire myself out so that I can sleep this evening."

"Does that work?" asked Steve, actually interested in what Clint would reply. Steve had occasionally suffered from nightmares of his own, but they were usually isolated occurrences and not every night.

Clint gave him a look, perhaps deciding whether to be truthful. He shrugged. "Sometimes."

"So did you get _any_ sleep last night?"

"Some," replied Clint.

"Okay, well once we're finished with this, maybe you'd like to join me for a run? And then, after lunch, we can head to the range. In my experience it's hard to fall asleep when you're exercising. Although Tony wanted a team dinner tonight, and when he and Bruce start at it, then it can be hard to keep your eyes open. They just don't speak English."

Clint smiled. "I'm familiar with geek speak."

"Geek?" asked Steve.

"Uh, I guess you'd talk about eggheads?" replied Clint, after thinking for a second.

For once Steve knew exactly what Clint was talking about. "Yeah, eggheads. The guys like Howard Stark who build stuff and make things work."

"Yeah, although you don't have to leave it all to them. I make my own arrows and I know how to hack a computer if I have to, even if Natasha is better than me."

Steve was now interested. He'd never once considered that Hawkeye might be the one to fabricate his own armoury, he'd just assumed that it was all down to SHIELD.

"Did you make your bow too?"

Clint shook his head. "I designed it, but I wouldn't have a hope at making it. I'm not even sure how R and D managed to get the snap out exactly right, but they have access to all sorts of materials that I'd never even have thought of." He gave a motion with his arm that was a mimic of the one that he used to unfold his bow.

It was like flicking a switch. Steve watched Clint stop talking and then shut down.

From Clint's point of view, he wasn't in Stark Tower anymore; he was back in the tunnels with Loki.

"What did the Tesseract show you, Agent Barton?" asked Loki, his eyes gleaming with enthusiasm for the death and destruction he was about to cause.

"My next target." He went to the black case that contained his bow. He took it out and snapped it open, as he had done a hundred times. The difference was that this time he was going out to kill innocents.

"What do you need?" asked Loki, his master and commander.

"A distraction and an eyeball." Dear lord, he regretted saying that. Because of him, Loki had gone out and removed a man's eyeball, killing him in the process. Meanwhile Barton had shot a number of security guards, men and women who probably had families, and then delivered to Loki another piece of the puzzle, the iridium.

He relived the memory as if it was happening this moment, as if it were real. He could hear Steve calling his name and asking if he was okay, but he wasn't in the Tower at the moment. He was on a mission in Germany.

Steve had watched Clint simply fade out of the room. One moment they were having a conversation and the next Clint wasn't responding to him. The archer had pushed himself into the furthest corner of the couch and was whispering to himself. Steve tried calling his name but it wasn't helping.

"JARVIS, can you get Tony and Bruce up here? Now."

"Yes, Captain, they are on their way," replied JARVIS. "I took the liberty of alerting them the moment Agent Barton's pulse began to rise."

Clint was staring into space now and shivering. Steve didn't know whether he should try again or just wait for Bruce and Tony, in the end the elevator bell signalled the arrival of help. Bruce and Tony spilled out of the elevator, worry clearly written across their faces.

"What happened?" asked Tony.

"I don't know," said Steve, "one moment we were talking and the next he just… stopped and I tried to get through to him, but he doesn't seem to actually be hearing me, or seeing me."

"It's a flashback," said Bruce, approaching Clint slowly. "What were you doing when it happened?"

"Watching the Maltese Falcon and talking about his bow," said Steve, bewildered.

"It triggered something," said Tony. "Probably Loki related."

"Okay, I get the impression that if I touch him then this is going to end badly," said Bruce.

Steve nodded. He agreed, Clint was tightly wound and ready to attack if necessary.

"Then talk to him," said Tony, crossly. His eyes seemed to reflect the mental anguish that Clint was currently experiencing. It was only then that Steve realised that Tony may well have experienced something similar himself. He'd read the file on Iron Man and knew about Tony's capture by terrorists in Afghanistan.

"Clint, you're having a flashback. I need you to say that back to me," said Bruce. He crouched down so that he was at Clint's eye level.

Clint clearly wasn't listening. Bruce tried again. Tony ignored this and headed to the bar. Steve wasn't quite sure what to do, so he decided to give Clint and Bruce some space, and joined Tony at the bar.

"What do we do?" asked Steve.

"Wait it out, Captain. Bruce has this." Tony handed Steve a good-sized glass of brandy, as he sipped one of his own.

Steve didn't normally drink before mid-day, but today he just might make an exception. He watched Bruce gently trying to coax Clint back from wherever it was he'd gone.

"Clint, you're in Avengers Tower. You're not with Loki. This isn't real. You're having a flashback." Bruce kept saying this until finally, Clint's eyes focussed on Bruce.

"I'm having a flashback," said Clint. "Fuck. I'm having a flashback."

Bruce nodded and Tony brought two more classes of brandy over to the couch. He handed both to Bruce and Bruce held one out to Clint.

"Drink this, it'll help with the come down. Your body's flooded with adrenaline right now and all your fight or flight reflexes are in high gear with no one to attack. I wouldn't recommend alcohol on a regular basis, but just this once." Bruce sniffed his own glass and glanced up at Tony. "Besides, Tony doesn't get the good stuff out for just anyone and it's a shame to waste it."

"I think you gave the Captain a bit of scare," said Tony, looking at Clint, not Steve, who was still standing by the bar.

Clint took the glass shakily, clutching it to himself and sipped it. "Did I really need an audience?"

"Maybe not all of us, but someone should be here until you learn to deal with the worst of the flashbacks on your own. If you're not aware of your surroundings then you have the potential to hurt yourself," replied Bruce.

"Not my first rodeo, Doc," replied Clint.

"But not this bad, right?" asked Bruce.

Clint just nodded. He sipped his drink again, starting to hold the glass with something less than the death grip with which he'd clung to it before.

"Okay, we need to talk about some techniques for dealing with them and ways of relaxing afterwards. You didn't mention this to the SHIELD psychiatrists?"

Clint shrugged. "Like you said, it wasn't this bad. I've gotten over this sort of thing before. Working for SHIELD isn't a picnic in the park." He downed the rest of his drink. "How do I get on to the roof?"

Steve was puzzled by this sudden change of tack.

"That's probably not a good idea," said Bruce.

Tony was still hovering and Steve suddenly felt both incredibly guilty and of no use to the situation. He too downed his drink, and placed the glass on the bar. He would probably just make things worse right now. As quietly as he could, he left the lounge.

* * *

Tony saw Steve leave the room, and was aware that the Captain probably didn't feel at all comfortable in this situation. At least he'd stayed to make sure that Clint was okay, he guessed that was a step in the right direction. He saw that Bruce had noticed it too, and the look that Bruce gave him clearly told him to follow the soldier. Tony would rather not be the one to go and sort out whatever was wrong with Steve, but Bruce was busy. And he wasn't about to have an argument in front of Clint about who got to do the touchy feely stuff with Captain America, so he turned around and went after him.

He found Steve in his room. Well, JARVIS told him that Steve was in his room. Tony didn't bother knocking because the door was slightly open, and in his book that was an open invitation to barge right on in, especially in his own Tower. Steve was standing staring out of the window across the New York skyline, arms folded. He looked like a man that did not want to talk, so of course that just gave Tony a challenge.

"So…" said Tony, leaning in the doorway. "I guess Clint's freak out was a bit unexpected."

"It was my fault," said Steve.

Which of course explained the leaving the room and the general self-recrimination that was apparently going on now.

"Uh, no," said Tony, walking over to join Steve in his window staring. "The guy has a serious case of PTSD, this stuff is going to happen."

"Tony, I had no idea what was happening or even what to do," said Steve. "I mean this is so far outside my experience, Clint is better off being left alone with almost any other person than me. Until last month I didn't even know how to do CPR. They didn't have that in 1945, they didn't have a lot of your medical miracles. We called this stuff shell-shock or just plain cowardice, and locked up people like Clint in asylums or prisons."

"Well, welcome to the brave new future where soldiers aren't thrown away when they're damaged. Well, not here anyway," said Tony, remembering that not every soldier with PTSD had Tony Stark's resources to fall back on. He should probably give someone some money to help sort that out.

"Yeah, well maybe I shouldn't have agreed to help with his recovery," said Steve, turning to face Tony. "He's a member of my team. I'm supposed to help him not make him worse."

"Okay, I think I already said that this was not your fault. I mean, right now even Bruce doesn't know what's really going to help him or act as a trigger. All we can do is do our best." Tony paused, trying to gauge how Steve was taking this. "Look, Bruce and I…" Tony hesitated, unsure whether he should tell Steve about something so personal, but it wasn't just Clint that needed help. "We've both had some experience of this ourselves. I had trouble sleeping after I got back from Afghanistan, and… some… flashbacks. Not as bad as the one that Clint just had, but bad enough. You were in a war, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you've had your fair share of sleepless nights."

Steve gave a short, almost embarrassed nod of affirmation.

Having got his confirmation Tony continued. "Then you have an idea of what Clint is going through. Just multiply that by a thousand and you're there. So think about how you felt. None of us like to have our brains malfunctioning on us. We're heroes, right? We help other people by fighting aliens and stuff. We're strong and we don't get scared by bad dreams and shadows in the corner."

"Except we do," said Steve.

"Yeah," said Tony. "We do. But admitting it is showing weakness, and I get the impression that out of all of us, Clint thinks he has something to prove."

There was a knock on the wood of the door frame and both men turned to see Bruce standing there.

"Where's Clint?" asked Tony.

"On the roof," said Bruce.

"Is that a good idea?" asked Steve.

"I think he needs it," said Bruce. "Give him some space, and time to sort out what's real and what's not. He's got some mental exercises to help him cope better, but he needs to practice a bit more before they're second nature."

Tony spoke, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Awesome, he just needs a few more flashbacks like that one to get them down."

"You know that they're not all that bad," said Bruce. "We talked about this."

"Can we learn the exercises?" asked Steve, abruptly. Then he continued a little more slowly and with more conviction. "I mean, will it help if we can talk them through with him? Like I think you were trying to do."

"Hey, not a bad idea, Capsicle," said Tony. Bruce was nodding too.

"I'll take you through them," said Bruce.

So the three of them sat down and spent the rest of the morning going over the techniques that Clint was using to get through his flashbacks. Then Tony had another particularly good idea, because really no one could say "no" to Captain America and Steve did say that he wanted to help.

* * *

People assumed that Clint liked high places because he was a sniper. It was more the other way around. He was a sniper because he liked high places. That and the perfect aim of course. They said he didn't have superpowers like the others, but he'd like to see them hit the targets that he did. Up here on the roof, he could see for miles and looking out on the rest of the world almost made him forget his own problems. It certainly made them feel small in comparison to the great blue sky that stretched above him. Maybe that was why he liked being up high so much.

He had no fear of heights, even without the safety net of his grappling arrow. He knew the balance of his body, how to shift his weight forward or backwards and how to use others' weight against them. He dangled his legs over the edge of the roof without worry that he would fall. He never had, why should he now?

He had been using his body as a weapon for almost as long as he could remember. He could calculate the path of an arrow in milliseconds and then start scanning for the next target. He was equally proficient with other weapons. He had fenced to world championship standard once, under a false name, SHIELD were happy as long as there were no cameras and who actually watched fencing? He'd been careful to lose in the round before the final and keep his mask on whenever possible. It had been a fun holiday one year, it was more like dancing with swords than real combat.

He knew his capabilities and his limits. He knew himself, and he had thought that what Loki had done to him was impossible. His loyalty had always been to SHIELD, ever since Coulson had pulled him out of that prison in South America. He wasn't an assassin for hire, he worked for a purpose. He was one of the good guys, and Loki had taken it all from him. He had taken who he was and what he did, and turned it against some of the few people in this world that he cared about.

He'd had PTSD before and gotten over it. As far as he could work out, most people never claimed that they were cured, they just got well enough to function from day to day. He'd have the odd nightmare (mostly quite rare occurrences before now) but it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle. Even then, during the day he was a normal, functioning human being. This was different. Natasha was right about one thing, this was beyond anything that they'd trained for.

The embarrassment of having a flashback, and a non-responsive one at that, in front of Steve Rogers was still burning in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't wanted the current screwed up state of his brain to be shown off in public quite so soon into their new living arrangement. Loki had done a real number on him and he knew it, but he also reckoned that he should have been able to deal with it. He was supposed to be one of SHIELD's best agents, an Avenger.

He just couldn't though. He couldn't sleep, he could barely eat and it was all down to one alien bad guy with a glow stick. He needed to deal with this and deal with it soon, because he couldn't be an Avenger until he could get his psych evaluation signed off. He sure as hell wasn't going to let the rest of the team look after him, because that was not who he was. Okay, he'd let Bruce talk him into coming to the Tower because staying on the helicarrier wasn't working. But he'd told himself that was because SHIELD could sign off on him staying somewhere with three other superheroes in residence to stop him if he went rogue again.

Then again, the chances of Loki getting past the Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man were kind of small too, especially given that Thor had taken him back to Asgard. The problem really was that he couldn't be rational about Loki, or what had been done to him. He had been forced to kill friends and innocent people. It would never be right, and even though Natasha had told him not to torture himself with how many people he'd killed, he'd looked up how many SHIELD agents had died. He didn't really remember killing them, and some of them had been killed by his team of mercenaries or Loki, but it was still, all his fault. He distinctly remembered coming up with the plan to attack the carrier, and it had been a damn good one. If it hadn't have been for the Avengers, then it probably would have succeeded.

He remembered waking up, tied to a bed, fighting restraints and Natasha telling him that he was going to be okay. Before that was a chequer board of half remembered situations and conversations. Selvig said the same. He wondered how the Professor was doing. He thought back to the… what was it that he'd used as a hide out? He'd found it for Loki, so he had to know. Pain shot across his forehead and down into the base of his skull. He let out a grunt of discomfort. He'd found something that was apparently locked away. He tried to probe the edges of the memory and again his head complained.

The pain was excruciating. He could barely see straight, and he knew it wasn't safe for him to be alone on the roof in this condition. He made it to the hatchway that led up onto the roof and let himself back into the building. He worked his way back down the steps slowly until he had returned to within range of JARVIS's voice pickups.

"JARVIS," said Clint.

"Yes, Agent Barton. I have already alerted Doctor Banner to your elevated pulse."

"Thanks," said Clint, and sat down heavily on the concrete steps. His head hurt so much that he actually didn't think that he could move right now. He'd have to wait it out and hope that Bruce brought painkillers.

* * *

Natasha had only limited time for Stark and his schemes. She'd spent too much of her time when she'd been undercover at Stark Industries dealing with his eccentricities and bad behaviour. She understood that some of it had been because he was actually dying at the time, but she'd known dying men who were far more gracious than Tony Stark.

She considered herself a good judge of character, it was a necessity in her line of work, and equally good at predicting what any person might do in a given situation. When Steve Rogers turned up at her door on the helicarrier, she should have seen it coming, but she hadn't.

She was off her game, tired and worried about Clint. She'd tried to call him earlier and got no answer from his cell. It wasn't at all unusual for Clint to leave his phone in his locker while he trained in the gym or range, but at the moment, she didn't like it when he was out of contact.

Still Steve Rogers was standing at her door and this just reeked of being part of one of Stark's schemes. First he'd sent Banner to sound her out and now Rogers was doing his dirty work. Yes, she knew it wasn't exactly dirty work, but it was something and she didn't like it. She didn't feel that she had the strength right now to deal with it either.

"Captain Rogers, what brings you to my door?" asked Natasha, a slight resigned tone in her voice.

Rogers looked like he would rather be anywhere than here. "Can we talk a moment?"

Natasha opened the door to her room a little wider, and stepped back to let Steve in. Her room was sparsely decorated, utilitarian and basically her home at the moment. She'd been based on the helicarrier ever since she got back from Russia. She'd never had much in the way of things, much like Clint. It was hard to be a totally different person on command when you were missing your stuff and she just didn't need more things to tie her down. Her life was about moving quickly and without impediment.

She offered Steve a seat on one of the two dark blue, SHIELD issue armchairs. He sat, still wearing his leather jacket as if he wasn't planning on staying long, and the chair was really too small for him to sit in comfortably for any length of time. He clasped his hands a little nervously. It was times like this that reminded her of how young the man was who sat in front of her. He might be nearly seventy years out of date but in years spent in the world, he was younger than her.

"So talk, Captain," said Natasha.

"How long have you known Clint?" asked Rogers.

"A long time. He brought me in to SHIELD," said Natasha. She gave him an assessing look. "So I assume that Stark's brave new world of communal living isn't working out quite as planned."

"It's early days, Agent Romanoff. Clint only moved in a few days ago." Rogers continued to look uncomfortable as he spoke. "The problem that we're having is that none of us really know Clint well enough to know, er, what's going to help. I'm seriously out of date in my knowledge of, well, everything, but medical matters seem to be the most problematic at the moment. And, honestly, we just didn't talk about this kind of thing."

"Mental illness," said Natasha bluntly, and Rogers actually looked embarrassed at the word. PTSD was simply an occupational hazard in her line of work, you either dealt with it and moved on, or it took you down with it. In the past both she and Clint had been part of the "dealt with it and moved on" school, but they'd never had to face anything quite like Loki before.

"He'll get over it," she said. "He always does."

"I'm sure of it, but it's going to take him a while unless he has help," said Rogers, in a surprising display of knowledge. "We need you at the Tower, Agent Romanoff."

"I doubt it," replied Natasha.

"Why are you so dead set against coming to the Tower? It wouldn't have to be permanent, just until Clint gets back on an even keel." Steve appeared totally sincere and his entire posture seemed to plead with her too.

"Thank you for the offer, Captain, but the answer is still "no"," said Natasha. "I've got work to do here, and truthfully, I'd have murdered Stark within the week. That's probably not something the Avengers need right now."

"I spoke to Fury earlier today," said Steve. "He said you'd finished your training assignment and are working on something else. Now, I've already had it pointed out to me that you're all spies and pretty much lie for a living, so I'm wondering when you're going to tell me what's really going on here."

Natasha hesitated before she spoke, wondering if Steve would understand why she was so reluctant to be near Clint right now. When she did speak, she met his eyes and did her best to show him that she was telling him the truth.

"I've been assigned to track down the remainder of Loki's henchmen. When Doctor Banner came looking for me, I'd just found out my new orders," said Natasha. "They were recruited by Clint because he knew who had a grudge against SHIELD. Some of them were killed in the attack on the carrier but a few escaped with Loki. At least one of them knew how to fly a Quinjet, which suggests a SHIELD operative turned bad or an expert pilot. And of the ones that we have been able to identify, they have all been seriously nasty pieces of work."

Steve frowned. "Wouldn't Clint be able to help with rounding them up? He could probably tell you who they are."

"Yes, but talking about it hurts him, both physically and mentally. There are parts that he can't remember and when he tries, he gets headaches. He thinks I didn't spot it when we debriefed him, but he doesn't hide pain as well as he thinks he does. If I'm around him, working and probing into what happened to those men, he'll keep trying to remember." She glanced across at Steve. "I don't want to cause him more guilt, because he was his usual thorough self and did a good job with recruiting the worst villains that he could find to take down SHIELD for Loki. He has enough to feel bad about."

"You're right he does. Which is why he needs a friend at the moment. As I understand it, you're it. He doesn't have a family, or anyone else to care about him. Just us, but we've only known him a few weeks, whereas you've known him for years." Steve was giving her a sincere look that was almost too much to bear.

"I know that," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. She sighed. "I was the one that had to take him down, my partner and friend. I gave him a concussion. Does that sound like the actions of someone who would help him recover?"

"Yes," said Steve, simply, "because you cared about what happened to him. Now back where I come from we called those people friends, but I find that I get a bit confused, so if you have another word for it then I'm all ears."

Natasha rolled her eyes, but let Steve continue without saying anything.

"The Tower's big enough that you don't have to work anywhere near Clint and Tony will even give you an office there if you want it," Steve continued, and then gave a dramatic pause. "Would it make any difference if I told you that it's Tony's turn to try to persuade you next?"

This time she laughed, and then gave a shake of her head. "Okay, I'll talk to Fury. I expect that I'll be moved in by the end of the week, but don't get your hopes up for this helping Clint much. Most of all he needs to forgive himself."

Steve nodded. "I know, but maybe together we can help him realise that he isn't to blame for Loki's actions."


	5. Chapter 5

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: Readers, thank you for reading. Reviewers, thank you for reviewing. Reviews are what keeps me writing. In this chapter Clint finds out something about Tony, Tony realises something about Clint and Natasha asks for help.

* * *

Tony and Pepper argued. That was a given. It happened frequently, so frequently that everyone expected it and ignored it. They were used to the way they talked over one another, throwing light jibes, correcting, contradicting and teasing. It never seemed to cause them problems and very rarely required any sort of apology from either side. So when Clint watched Pepper Potts storm through the lounge and into the elevator, he didn't think much of it. The unusual bit was when Tony ran into the room just a few seconds after the elevator doors had closed, and hit them with a closed fist. That was, of course, followed by a yelp of pain.

Clint would have preferred to disappear into the background, but that didn't seem possible at this point. He considered his options for questions that didn't sound totally stupid – "why are you chasing Pepper?" "what did you do to piss off Pepper now?" "did you and Pepper have a fight?" "want a shoulder to cry on?". They all sounded wrong and, now he thought about it, totally stupid. He settled for a different approach.

"Why are you hitting the elevator door, Tony?" he asked.

Tony whirled around, and Clint realised that he probably hadn't actually noticed him sitting there, reading his e-book.

He stopped and stared for a moment. "Because, very occasionally, I'm not as amazing as I think I am," said Tony.

"Is that supposed to be an answer?"

"No," said Tony. "I don't want to talk about it. I'll be in my lab."

Clint couldn't help but notice that Tony had been spending a lot of time in his lab over the last couple of weeks, basically since the archer had moved in. He wondered if that had always been the case, or if it was a new development since Loki and the Chitauri invasion. He had an idea that it might be.

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you about my arrows," said Clint, deciding that this was worth further study. "Can I come down and discuss some of my designs with you?"

He'd almost fallen asleep reading his book, so a change of scene might help keep him awake a bit longer. That way he'd have more chance of sleeping tonight. That was the theory anyway, so far it wasn't working. To be honest, he was also bored and this might help relieve the monotony of hanging around the Tower with nothing to do but eat, train, read, watch movies and fail to fall asleep at night.

Tony's face immediately brightened. "I thought you'd never ask. We could take a look at that bow of yours as well."

Clint raised his eyebrows. "My bow is perfect."

"You don't want to say things like that to me. Does he JARVIS?"

"No, sir," replied JARVIS. "You do tend to take it as a challenge."

"Yes, I do," replied Tony.

Clint was totally intrigued now. "I may regret this, but go ahead, let's see what you can do."

The two men headed down to the lab.

* * *

What surprised Tony the most about Clint Barton was the fact that no one at SHIELD had bothered to mention just how smart Clint was. Okay, Fury had described him as one of the "sharpest men I know" when they'd all been wondering how Loki had taken control of him, but Tony had taken that as Fury talking up one of his agents and more about how he could fight well. It didn't really do justice to Clint's intelligence in Tony's opinion.

It wasn't like his own genius level brilliance, of course, this was a different kind of smart. Tony was talking about the kind of insight into a battle which meant that Clint could call the shots from a roof whilst a hundred things were going on around him, including picking out key bits of useful information like Chitauri fliers not being able to turn corners easily, and all the time still fire arrows with unerring accuracy.

Tony had spent some time talking to Eric Selvig following the battle for New York, because he was the current authority on the tesseract and Tony was simply curious. Eric mentioned that Clint was the one who'd pointed out that doors open from both sides, just before Loki's arrival, and Tony got a little bit more of an idea of how "sharp" Clint was. He'd filed that away for future reference.

So now the archer, clearly tired and trying not to fall asleep on the lab bench, was actually discussing arrow trajectories with him and they were getting into the deep, dark details of how some of the more interesting arrow heads worked internally. Clint had designed most of them himself, and even made some of them, although he still had SHIELD make the more tricky ones.

As they discussed refinements to the designs, Tony found that he was no longer surprised that the comments Clint made were useful. They moved on to the bow (definitely not perfect), and then started on a few of the targeting system upgrades that he was adding to the new Iron Man Mark 9 suit. Clint was actually being really helpful with the missile flight dynamics. It was sort of his area of expertise, but there was more to it, there was something unique in the way that Clint was looking at the problems that Tony was putting before him.

Tony was beginning to think that if the archer had been there when he'd been trying to fix the palladium problem then he might have seen the solution sooner. Clint was damn good at looking at everything in front of him as a whole and picking the odd thing out, or just spotting the damn obvious. And sometimes spotting the really obvious was actually very hard. It took skill to see something so simple that it would revolutionise a design. Tony had it most days, but even he couldn't see the wood for the trees at times.

Tony had read Clint's file when he'd hacked the SHIELD database and knew that he'd never had much of a proper education before he arrived at SHIELD. So as Clint was showing an interest in what Tony was doing, he started to explain some of the basic principles of mechanics. Instead of making his excuses and leaving, Clint listened and then asked sensible questions. Tony stopped himself from making sarcastic remarks with a great deal of effort, realising that it would probably drive Clint away, and answered every question in language that Clint would understand. He was acutely and suddenly aware that if he patronised the archer at this point then he'd probably never get another chance to engage his interest. Strangely he found that he didn't want to lose this opportunity.

Tony could see Clint getting more and more tired as they worked. Eventually Clint couldn't keep up any longer and whilst they were waiting for a new simulation to complete running, he fell asleep with his head resting on his arms on one of the lab benches. Given how sleep deprived Tony knew Clint to be, he left him to it and got on with building a circuit board.

That was how Natasha found them when she came looking for Tony a couple of hours later.

"Romanoff, I didn't think you were moving in until Sunday," said Tony, speaking quietly so as not to wake Clint.

"I'm not here to move in." She paused and indicated Clint. "That cannot possibly be comfortable," said Natasha.

"He's sleeping. I'm not going to complain, or do anything to wake him. I'll get Bruce to give him painkillers for his stiff neck when he wakes up," said Tony, turning back to the soldering that he was currently doing. Suddenly he jerked his head up and fixed Natasha with a piercing look. "Hey, why didn't you tell me your boyfriend was smart?"

Natasha gave him a strange look. "He's a SHIELD agent, what did you expect? And he's not my boyfriend."

"That's not what I meant, obviously he's going to be good at the spy stuff and hitting people. I mean he's my-kind-of-smart, smart. He just helped me calibrate the targeting systems for the next suit upgrade," replied Tony.

Natasha smiled. "Of course he's good at that. He does crazy math in his head every time he fires an arrow."

"Huh," was all Tony could manage, as he regarded Clint. He'd never even considered how Clint made the amazing shots that he did, but it did make sense now that he thought about it. Then again, being good at math didn't explain Clint's rather useful problem solving abilities. "Next time you introduce someone to me, you might want to lead with "he's really good at math" instead of "he's not under Loki's control anymore". I'd probably have warmed to him quicker."

"I'll certainly give it some thought," replied Natasha making it totally clear that she wasn't even going to countenance it. "Look, I'm here because we need your help, and Doctor Banner if he's available."

"That depends what you need our help with," said Tony.

"Jane Foster got a message from Thor. You'll have to ask her how. The Asgardians are trying to rebuild the Bifrost. That's the…"

Tony interrupted. "Legendary rainbow bridge that they used to use to travel from their world to ours, yadda yadda yadda. Destroyed by Thor to stop Loki from killing a planet full of frost giants, right?"

"Yes," said Natasha, taking the interruption in her stride and ignoring the fact that Tony should have known none of this.

"So what do they want? An engineering correspondence course? There's a community college on the other side of town that would be happy to help them."

"Sort of," said Natasha. "Apparently the bridge was built some time ago and a lot of the knowledge that built it was lost. The Asgardians have been working for over a year to get to this point. It looks like they're stuck though, and Thor seems to think that you might be able to help."

"Me?" asked Tony, surprised. "What do I know about trans-dimensional bridges?"

"I don't know, but Thor seems to think that you, Banner and Foster can get it running again," said Natasha.

"Well if Thor says so then it must be right," said Tony, with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "That guy is all muscle and no brains. I wouldn't trust him to fix an alarm clock."

"That's not what Selvig says," replied Natasha.

"Really? What does Selvig say?"

"That Thor understands more about Asgardian tech than we do," said a new voice. Clint had apparently woken up while they were talking. "I know because he kept going on about it. Thor calls it magic, but Selvig didn't really think the Asgardians made a distinction." He yawned at them.

"Magic is not science," said Tony, categorically. "You can't use tricks to power a city, or build a bridge to another world. Whatever this is, it's technology based in science. I've read Jane Foster's report. The Bifrost creates an Einstein-Rosen bridge, it's explained by General Relativity and the Casimir Effect."

"I have no idea what either of those are, but I'll take your word for it," said Natasha.

"Of course you will, because I know what I'm talking about. Unlike the Asgardians apparently," said Tony, turning back to his soldering.

"Tell me you're not desperate to poke at that thing," said Clint, rubbing at his eyes.

Tony gave Clint a withering look and groaned. "Okay, you have a point. It would be fun, and Bruce would love it too."

"That's settled then," said Natasha. "I'll get the Quinjet prepped."

"I'll get the suit," said Tony, turning off the soldering iron. "Clint pack your bags and give Bruce a shout, we're going on a road trip. We'll leave a note for Steve."

"I haven't been cleared by medical, in case you'd forgotten," said Clint, tiredly.

"Tony," said Natasha, warningly.

"What are the terms of our "custody" of Clint? One of us has to be with him in the Tower or when he's out and about. So… he'll be with us."

"I'm not allowed weapons outside the range. There's no point in taking a sniper who has no weapons," said Clint.

"Huh, they really brainwashed you at SHIELD, didn't they? Maybe worse than Loki did."

"Stark," said Natasha, this time more sharply. "You have no right to say that."

"And no idea what you're talking about," ground out Clint, now suddenly fully awake and with anger in his eyes.

Tony held his hands up. "Woah there, all I meant was that there's more to Hawkeye than just his bow and arrows. If you think otherwise, my friend, then you're wrong. You've just proved it by helping me out with all this. Okay, you're never going to be up to my standards, but you're definitely not stupid. You might just be able to see something that Bruce and I can't."

Clint frowned, but the anger seemed to have faded. "Or I could flashback in the middle of something important and cost someone their life."

Tony wasn't getting this at all. He was offering Clint a trip out, at least partly because he knew how bored Hawkeye was, and the guy just wasn't taking the hint.

"Really? This is an engineering field trip to New Mexico to fix a bridge. What could possibly go wrong?" asked Tony.

"How long have you been wearing that suit?" asked Natasha. "You really should know better than to tempt fate like that."

"Yeah, well I'm confident that this time, we'll be fine. Because, well, science!"

Natasha and Clint exchanged a look. Something seemed to pass between them but Tony had no idea what it might be.

Clint hopped off the stool that he'd been sitting on. "I'll go get Bruce and tell him to pack for a few days away. We'll see you at the Quinjet. Who's your pilot?"

"Quartermaine," replied Natasha.

Clint nodded. "He'll do," he said and headed out of the lab.

"I guess he's coming then," said Natasha, shaking her head.

* * *

Thor's hammer Mjolnir was made of uru, a metal so hard that it could only be forged in the heart of a dying star. It was one of the few things that could be used to mend the broken Bifrost. Thor thought that it was fitting that the thing that broke the bridge should be used to reconstruct it. Odin had said that Mjolnir was also for building as well as battle, and Thor had a vested interest in the Bifrost's repair. Since Thor's first trip to Midgard and resulting attitude change, building seemed to be equally as honourable an activity for a future king as battle.

At first, everyone in Asgard had believed that the Bifrost could not be rebuilt. It had originally been built many eons ago and even Odin only vaguely remembered how it had been wrought in the beginning. It seemed less than pressing to reopen the gate to the nine realms, but the balance of power of the nine kingdoms had to be maintained. Odin decided to enlist the help of the Dwarf King, Eitri of Nidavellir, and they had always enjoyed good relations in the past. So Eitri sent several of his best smiths to resolve the problem, but even they struggled with the final piece of the puzzle.

The Bifrost provided power to the transportation beam as well as direction. However, whilst the Bifrost's rainbow bridge could be repaired, the focus apparatus was more difficult. It had blown itself apart when Thor destroyed the Bifrost. The structure of the mechanism was not a problem, it was the control over the power which required expertise that neither realm possessed, so Thor turned to Midgard and Jane.

He'd always known, from almost the moment that they met, that she possessed an intellect that was in excess of his own. He had the fortune to be born a prince of Asgard, she was born a commoner on Midgard and yet she knew how the Bifrost forged its path through space and time. He was aware that Jane Foster was simply one of many though. He had met other Midgardians blessed with equally sharp minds and Tony Stark was one of those. In fact of all of the mortals he had met whilst on Midgard, Stark and his armour reminded him most of the skill of the dwarves of Nidavellir. Stark was the man who would have the knowledge to work with Jane and help them control the power of the Bifrost. They could send plans, which the Dwarf smiths would then build and Heimdall would use his sight to attain the correct calibration. He told Odin that he was confident that the Midgardians could help, and it never once crossed his mind how difficult a task it might be.

Thus his course of action was clear, he requested permission from the All-father to send a message to Jane Foster so that she might contact SHIELD and Tony Stark. He included instructions for how to get a return message back to Asgard, and then waited.

* * *

The Quinjet landed just before midnight at Jane Foster's lab in New Mexico. Clint had spent the entire journey fidgeting because the idea of letting Quartermaine pilot the jet, when he was quite capable of doing it himself, did not sit well. He knew that Natasha was watching him with interest and he was doing his best to not seem overtly crazy. Inside his head he was struggling not to flashback to Loki's attack on the helicarrier or send himself mad with watching Quartermaine's every little move. Apparently Quinjets now represented two kinds of mental torture for him, which was both ridiculous and annoying. He was beginning to think that he should have listened to his gut and stayed at home, but he'd been pretty bored in the Tower.

Doctor Jane Foster was waiting for them when they landed and greeted them with a big smile. Iron Man was already there and chatting to the Doctor with the faceplate open when they disembarked from the jet.

"Welcome to New Mexico," she said. "SHIELD organised some accommodation for you, and we can get to work properly tomorrow."

"Why not now, Dr Foster?" said Tony. "I'm ready to get going."

"Because we're all tired," said Bruce. He glanced towards Clint, who knew that he looked totally worn out, because he always did at the moment. The only consolation was that everyone else looked the same after the Quinjet flight, except for Tony.

Of course Tony noticed the look from Bruce. "Okay, I guess I could do with the sleep too."

Clint really wished that he hadn't seen the way that the glance towards him from Bruce immediately made Tony give in, like he was some sort of invalid. He could go without sleep with the best of them on a normal day, it was just that he couldn't do it consistently for weeks on end. He was already feeling a bit lost without his bow and sidearm and this just made him feel more awkward. He was still wondering why he'd thought this might be a good idea.

However, that became the least of his problems as Maria Hill strode into view.

"Shit," muttered Natasha.

Clint sighed. He did not need to explain himself to the Deputy Director of SHIELD right now.

"Why didn't you mention that she was going to be here?" whispered Tony.

"Because I didn't think she was going to be," replied Natasha, quietly.

"Why _is_ she here?" asked Clint, equally quietly.

"Maybe we should stop whispering and ask her," said Bruce, walking towards the Deputy Director. "Good evening, Deputy Director Hill. We weren't expecting to see you here."

Hill stopped in front of Banner, her eyes scanning the other assembled Avengers. She was the picture of military efficiency in her SHIELD uniform. "I could say the same about some of your companions, Doctor Banner. I sent Agent Romanoff to get Mr Stark."

"I thought that Bruce would be helpful," said Tony, the sound of servos accompanying him as he walked towards Hill to stand next to Bruce.

"Doctor Banner is not the problem," said Hill. "And I'm certain that you all know that Agent Barton should not be here."

Clint couldn't cower behind the others like this, so he stepped up beside Iron Man. "I'll take the Quinjet back to the Tower."

"Uh, no," said Tony. "I brought him here because I thought he'd be useful. This is just a science jaunt, and we're not breaking his terms of being out and about. Or do you know something that we don't?"

"We're in contact with a god of thunder from another world. This is certainly not a routine matter, Mr Stark. There is the question of whether we even want them to reopen their bridge," said Hill.

"What?" shouted Jane. "I can't believe that this is happening again. You cannot stop me working on this."

"Actually I can, but I'm not going to," said Hill. "Director Fury thinks that Thor is worth more as an ally. But we want a cut-off switch for this thing. A way to shut the door and stop the likes of Loki coming through."

"You have no idea how stupid that sounds," said Tony. "Did SHIELD not learn anything from the tesseract? It's like handing a six year old a book of matches with you guys, you immediately start looking for ways to play with fire."

Jane nodded. "We have no way of knowing what interrupting that much power might do, and the technology is so far beyond anything that we have here, I wouldn't know where to begin."

Bruce folded his arms over his chest. "From what I've read of Dr Foster's research, I doubt what you're asking is even possible. There is no device on our end to add a cut-off switch to. It's only actually in use for seconds at most, and then it's turned off from Asgard."

Clint didn't even pretend to know what the scientists were talking about, but he could at least get the gist.

"So, if we help them fix this thing then it's going to stay fixed, unless Thor physically destroys it again," said Clint. "It's not a door like the tesseract created, it's more like one of those teleporters from Star Trek."

"See, I told you we brought him for a reason," said Tony. "He's good at dumbing stuff down so that SHIELD personnel can understand it."

Maria Hill looked like she was close to hitting Tony, Iron Man armour or not. "I have a degree in Engineering, Mr Stark, the same as you."

"Actually, I have three and none of them are from night school like yours," replied Tony, smugness evident in his tone. Clint waited for the cutting comeback, but Natasha clearly thought the situation had escalated enough.

"I think we should all get some sleep and discuss this in the morning," said Natasha. Clint silently thanked her. He was dead on his feet, and for once thought he might actually be tired enough to sleep.

"I agree," said Bruce. "And we can take our time over the problem then."

"Okay, you might have something there," said Tony. "Tomorrow morning it is."

"I'll see you in the briefing room at 0900," said Hill and strode off.

"Let me show you where you're sleeping," said Jane, with some resignation.

"I guess she forgot about Hawkeye," said Tony, with a grin. "Which means you get to stay."

"Awesome," said Clint, with unbridled sarcasm. So far this was not turning out to be either as fun or as interesting as he'd hoped.

This was followed by general shuffling whilst Tony got out of his armour and everyone collected their bags from the Quinjet. Soon after that, Jane had shown them to the prefabricated SHIELD building which was being used as both barracks and field office, where they were each allocated a room. The rooms were barely big enough for a bed and cupboard for their clothes, but Clint was so tired that he didn't care (and had certainly slept in many worse places). He flopped down on the bed and fell asleep listening to the sounds of Tony complaining about having to use a communal shower facility and the scratchiness of the sheets. He wished he could have stayed awake for Natasha's inevitable rebuke, but he couldn't manage it.


	6. Chapter 6

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: A slightly longer chapter this time. It has headaches, bad dreams, annoyed spies, wormholes and a box full of instructions.

AN2: I realised when I looked back over my reviews, that some of you guys have been reading my writing for quite some time. So a quick shout out to The Nagging Cube, Emma PixieLix Duggan and ItsJustChris for your continued perseverance, I hope I'm getting better. Apologies if there are others of you out there and I've failed to recognise your name. And, as always, thanks to everyone who left a review, you're awesome.

* * *

The next morning was bright and dry, another typical day in the desert. Bruce couldn't say that he'd slept well, but he'd slept enough to function and suspected that the rest of the Avengers would say the same. The problem was the lack of sound proofing between the rooms, cubicles really, and Clint's inability to sleep. He hadn't gone into much detail when Bruce asked about the sleep problems that he'd been having, just saying it was a combination of insomnia and bad dreams. It was now clear just how bad those dreams might actually be.

At least the rest of them could fall asleep again relatively quickly, whereas Clint had taken time to calm down and then resettle. Bruce knew because he'd been the one to do it the first time, and had heard Natasha having a conversation with him after the second. He'd counted a total of three nightmares and after the final one, Clint didn't even bother to try to get back to sleep.

When Bruce arrived at breakfast, Clint was downing painkillers with a glass of water and had his sunglasses on. He was dressed in his usual black t-shirt and cargoes, and freshly clean shaven. He was also nibbling unenthusiastically at a piece of toast, and regarding a cup of mud-coloured coffee with trepidation.

"Headache?" asked Bruce, as he took a seat next to Clint. He placed his own tray of dubious looking breakfast items on the table.

Clint nodded. "Wrong dreams last night."

Bruce frowned. Clint hadn't bothered to mention that dreams sometimes gave him headaches as well as trying to remember.

"Don't we know it," said Tony, slipping on his own pair of extremely expensive designer sunglasses, as he approached the table. He was wearing a pair of probably equally expensive jeans and a rather tatty looking AC/DC t-shirt. The only breakfast the billionaire appeared to have decided to have was a mug of coffee.

"Sorry," said Clint.

"No worries, Legolas, it's not like you can help it," said Tony, taking his own seat across the table from the archer and giving him a tap on the arm as he passed. "Is that what you put up with every night?"

Clint shrugged.

"Sometimes it's a lot worse," said Natasha as she too reached their table. The spy somehow managed to look fresh and well rested despite being up in the middle of the night to offer comfort to Clint.

"Nat," said Clint with exasperation, having clearly not wanted to give away that detail.

"It'll get better," said Bruce, "just give it some time."

"I've given it time," said Clint.

"Not enough," said Bruce. "You need to be a bit more patient."

"Meanwhile, the walls in this place are paper thin so you guys have to put up with my bad dreams too. I'll get the Quinjet to take me back to New York today," said Clint.

Tony sipped his coffee and made a face at the taste. "Wow, SHIELD needs to get better coffee. Maybe I should buy them a coffee machine and a barista to go with it." He turned his attention back to Clint. "Did you hit your head last night? We don't care about the odd sleepless night. When I go home, I can shut my door and have an uninterrupted night's sleep. You're better off being here, and doing something, than sitting around in the Tower."

"He has a point," said Natasha.

Clint rubbed at his forehead. Bruce suspected that he wasn't terribly used to people actually caring about him, rather than themselves or his skills with a bow. "I suppose so."

"And the Quinjet is a trigger, I expect," said Bruce. The words were out of his mouth before he'd really thought that maybe Clint didn't want everyone to know that.

Clint gave Bruce a sharp look, but he nodded reluctantly, apparently a little embarrassed at being so obvious.

"Okay, then you're definitely not getting back on it today to go back to New York," said Natasha.

"Deputy Director Hill might have other ideas," replied Clint.

"Deputy Director Hill can kiss out collective asses," replied Tony. "You're staying if we say you are. She needs us to help maintain this alliance that they want with Asgard, so she can suck it up. Although I can't see it working. They definitely have more toys than we do, so why would they care about having us as allies?"

"Maybe Thor would just like to see Jane again," said Bruce, feeling he was somewhat pointing out the obvious.

"What, you think Point Break is that far gone for the Doctor?"

Bruce merely shrugged. "He got in touch with her as his first point of contact. I'd say he likes her quite a lot."

"So this is all about a lovesick God of Thunder getting to see his girl again?" said Tony, incredulously.

"From what I saw, it could well be. He was going to sacrifice his life for her," said Clint.

"You were here when he arrived the first time?" asked Bruce.

Clint nodded. "Coulson had me assigned to keep an eye on the hammer, but when the Destroyer walked into town we were all called in to evacuate the place. No one thought we had a chance at beating the thing, even the Asgardians didn't seem to be having much luck. Then Thor stepped out in front of it, and we thought he'd been killed, but all of a sudden there's a light show and suddenly the hammer's in his hand. He took it out pretty quickly after that."

Bruce noted that Clint had pretty much abandoned the toast after a couple of bites. He was now drinking his coffee with very little enthusiasm, but as Tony had said, it was awful. Bruce was thinking that he might actually have to keep a better eye on what Clint ate. He probably wasn't getting enough calories to maintain the kind of active lifestyle that he was leading if this was anything to go by.

"Meanwhile, I was having all the fun of hacking Justin Hammer's computers," said Natasha.

"Don't forget the flying drones that Rhodey and I had to deal with. Oh and Vanko," said Tony. "Pepper was not pleased about nearly being killed by an exploding drone at our own Expo."

"I saw that on the news," said Bruce. "It even made it to India. The Destroyer didn't though, I guess SHIELD hushed that one up."

Clint nodded. "Originally our mission was to shut down Jane Foster and Eric Selvig's research, and confiscate everything. Coulson persuaded Fury that it would be better to have them working for us and continuing their research rather than locking it all away in a warehouse."

"Typical SHIELD," said Tony. "If you can't turn it into a weapon, then either lock it up or destroy it."

"That's a little unfair," said Natasha.

"Really? Evidence to date would suggest otherwise," said Tony.

"Can we leave the moral arguments until I've finished my first cup of coffee, just for once?" asked Clint.

"We're due in the briefing room in less than an hour and I'd rather we talked about how we're going to tackle Deputy Director Hill," said Bruce.

"She may have a point," said Natasha. "We don't know what else might come through the Bifrost."

"Yes, but until Thor arrived, nothing had," said Tony. "And then it turns out it was all about his brother's Daddy issues."

"That may not always be the case," said Natasha. "There could be threats out there that we don't even know about yet."

"You might be right, but I'd rather have Thor and the Asgardians standing beside us if that's true," said Bruce. "So that means we need a way to get them here."

"And we know from Loki that there _are_ other ways of getting here, so I think we're past putting the stopper back in the bottle because the genie is well and truly out," said Tony.

Clint sighed loudly and pushed his chair back from the table. "I'm going for a run. I'll see you all at the briefing."

Natasha swallowed a quick mouthful of coffee and made to get up. "I'll join you. We haven't run together for a while."

The other two Avengers watched them go. Bruce considered trying to get Clint to stay and eat his breakfast, but he didn't want to sound like a mother hen. He needed to pick his battles if he was going to help Clint, and now wasn't the time.

* * *

Natasha and Clint arrived, freshly showered, to the briefing room after a long, but ultimately useful, run. Natasha noted that Clint seemed to have been invigorated by it and actually appeared to be less tired now than he had been earlier. His headache also seemed to have finally disappeared, after she'd seen him take yet more painkillers from a bottle in his pocket. She needed to check with Bruce what he was taking and what the recommended dosage was.

Jane Foster was already there and working on a laptop. There was a board behind her with pictures pinned to it, which looked like a bad storm. Her assistant, a young woman who was apparently named Darcy, was handing out bulging information packets. Tony was flicking through his with his feet propped on the round table. Bruce was rather more diligently going through the information, his glasses perched on his nose and a pencil in his hand. Hill was already sat at the head of the table, tapping away at a tablet and ignoring everyone else. Natasha and Clint took the last two seats at the table.

"Okay, let's get started," said Jane, looking around the table. "You have in front of you the letter that Thor sent to me. It's accompanied by some small samples of the material that he talks about and what look like schematics of some kind. They seem to have rebuilt the section with provides the power to open the Einstein-Rosen bridge, but they don't know how to control it."

Natasha flicked through the file to the letter that Jane had mentioned and read. The letter was originally written on a material that the techs had analysed as "not paper, perhaps metal" and was in Thor's own bold, Asgardian handwriting in a variation of Norse runes. SHIELD's linguistics department had apparently had quite an excited morning of translating it. It had been enclosed in a metal box about the size of a toaster, which was ornately decorated with symbols similar to those on Mjolnir.

_My Dearest Jane,_

_I hope my message finds you well and your work continues satisfactorily. I send this message to you in the hope that I can enlist your help to assist Asgard. You will have heard the tale of how I used Mjolnir to smash the Bifrost, the path between our world and yours. I did this to stop my brother from destroying Jotunheim and the race of Frost Giants that live there. Alas with the Bifrost gone, I could not easily return to Earth and we had to burn dark matter for my return to assist with Loki's capture. This could not continue._

_I talked with my father about rebuilding the bridge and he enlisted the help of the dwarf king, Eitri, who was able to help. He and his smiths have been responsible for much of the work on the Bifrost and returning it to its former glory. However even our noble ally was unable to repair the controlling mechanism for the Bifrost. It was built in the days of my father's father and many eons have passed since then._

_It is with this then that I come to you to seek guidance. I include the plans that Eitri has drawn of the inner workings of the Bifrost in the hopes that you can enlist the aid of Tony Stark, Man of Iron and Bruce Banner, when the rage is not upon him. If you speak with SHIELD then they will know how to reach them with your technology. I am certain that your combined knowledge will be able to see a solution to our problem._

_The bridge is made of uru, the same material which my hammer is wrought from. However, there are other components in the workings that consist of different materials. I have sent you samples of these to help in your research_

_When you are ready to send something to Asgard, enclose it in the box, lock it with the key and we will recall it. Keep the key in case we need to send back to you for more information. This can only be done twice, so choose wisely what you send as we will only have one chance to ask questions and receive answers. After that we must repair the Bifrost or seek out more dark matter._

_Respectfully,_

_Thor_

"Right, so all he's asking us to do is come up with the control mechanism. Piece of cake," said Tony.

Bruce removed his glasses. "Except that we're going to have to draw up the plans for someone else to build and have no testing phases. If they can't get it to work first time then they're only going to be able to send one set of diagnostics for us to solve any problems, and we can only send them back one set of solutions."

"And I'm not sure he's given us enough here to work with," said Jane. "We don't know enough about the Bifrost energy and how it's channelled."

"Well, don't you two give up easily," said Tony. "Look, we have all of Doctor Foster's data on the first time Thor came to Earth, and all the readings that you took previously. We should be able to get a handle on the energy signature and once we've had a good look at this guy, sorry, dwarf, Eitri's plans, we'll be able to build something to channel it that will work with what they've got."

Bruce leaned back in his chair and just gave Tony a look. Apparently this meant something between the two of them.

"Oh, come on! We've solved more difficult stuff than this. Eitri's plans don't look too bad. We'll need to translate the runic script into English, but SHIELD managed Thor's letter," added Tony.

"It's the other end that concerns me," said Banner.

"Are you saying it can't be done?" asked Deputy Director Hill.

Jane shook her head. "It can definitely be done. I'm just not sure it can be done under these circumstances."

"I agree with Doctor Foster," said Bruce. "But I suppose we can still try."

"I think we should give it a go. Failure be damned," said Jane.

"Okay," said Tony, "so at least we're all on the same page. Can I suggest those of us with IQs above a hundred retire to the labs and work out the details of exactly how we're going to do this?"

Bruce gave Tony a roll of his eyes at the engineer's phrasing. Natasha had never known Bruce to shove his intellect in people's faces the way Tony did.

"And the cut-off switch?" asked Hill.

"You're still going on about that? We'll see what we can do, but I'm not promising anything," said Tony. "Right, meeting adjourned. Go carry on with whatever SHIELD stuff you guys do when you're not bothering me."

Natasha's phone beeped at her. There was a message from one of her contacts. Apparently they had some information for her. She would have to arrange a meeting with him and that meant she needed to leave without letting Clint know what was going on.

"I need to get back to the helicarrier," said Natasha, getting up from her chair. "I've got a mission to get back to."

"You're not staying?" asked Clint. He actually had a slight edge of disappointment to his tone. He was so far from being right at the moment, that she briefly considered blowing off the meeting with her contact and staying. Some things had to come before friendship though.

"Agent Romanoff is working on something for Director Fury that takes priority," said Hill. "Her presence here isn't essential."

"Come on, Hawkeye, we'll keep you company while Mata Hari does her thing," said Tony, rising from his chair.

Natasha's head whipped round at Stark's latest nickname. She took the few steps towards him that would bring her into his personal space.

"If you ever call me that again then I will snap your neck while you sleep," she said in a perfectly calm and reasonable tone. It was all the more menacing for it, and because Tony knew that she could easily do it.

Tony's eyes widened and he took a step backwards. "Okay, you don't like it. Never again," he said, quickly. "What's so bad about Mata Hari?"

Clint smirked, probably enjoying Iron Man's discomfort considerably. "Mata Hari was a double agent, working for the French and the Germans in World War 1. She also got caught. That's probably the worst possible insult you could have picked – a traitor and a bad spy."

"Oh, okay. Right, where's the lab around here," said Tony, even more rapidly and heading for the door.

"I'll show you," said Jane, who was clearly slightly perplexed by the entire thing.

Natasha smiled, gave Tony a few minutes to get clear and then went to find her pilot to take her to her rendezvous.

* * *

Clint was making a habit out of falling asleep in labs at the moment. Tony, Bruce and Jane had dragged him with them down to the lab where they were going to be working on the Bifrost problem. He'd watched Tony convert the paper plans drawn up by Eitri into blue holograms that raised themselves up off the paper, and had quickly become lost as the trio began discussing Einstein-Rosen bridges and the Casimir effect, whatever that was.

To be honest he wasn't really sure what he was doing here. Tony might think he had some kind of fresh perspective on things, but he wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to be. At the moment, he was snoozing in an armchair in the corner and being of no help to anyone.

"Clint, wake-up and pay attention for a moment," came a shout. Tony, of course. He was sat at a lab bench on a high stool, and manipulating a hologram of something. Jane and Bruce were sat on similar stools on the other sides of the bench. Jane had her notebook out in front of her and a pen in her hand. Bruce had an electronic StarkPad in his hands.

"What is it?" Clint asked, sleepily.

"This is actually your area of expertise. Trajectories. Aiming," said Tony. "How do we aim a wormhole?"

Clint could see that the glass board had been filled with equations whilst he'd been sleeping. Okay, this was something that he knew about. Ballistics. Then there were other doodles and illustrations, mentions of a wormhole. He untangled his legs from their curled position and stretched them out.

"So this wormhole, it just punches a hole through space?" asked Clint. He got to his feet and came over for a closer look at the board. "It's a straight line, that can't be knocked off course?"

"We think so," said Bruce. "According to the work that's been done so far on it, we believe it simply joins two areas of space as if it was creating a fold." He took a piece of paper and demonstrated by curling the two sides around so that they met.

Jane nodded. "Right, but the Bifrost has to be told which of the nine realms it's supposed to form the bridge to."

"But it's not as simple as just pointing the gun at an area of space and shooting the wormhole gun," said Tony. "I mean why can they only create wormholes to eight other places?"

"I don't think we've got enough information to work with to answer that one," said Bruce, fiddling with his glasses.

"Power has to be a factor," said Jane. "Maybe they can only generate enough power to reach those nine systems."

Tony shook his head. "From what Thor said, the Bifrost can destroy planets. That sounds like something which can channel a lot of energy."

"They're probably the closest ones," said Clint, with a shrug. "Midgard means Middle Earth, that's us, right? They seem to think about things pretty literally."

"He's right," said Jane. "Thor explained to me about the World Tree, Yggdrasill."

She jumped off her stool and went to a nearby bookcase. She pulled out a thick tome and deposited it on the bench. She pulled it open and began a rapid search for a particular page. She finally found it and turned it so that everyone could see. It showed a diagram of circles and lines, with Asgard at the top of the page and Midgard in the centre of the diagram.

"This is a Norse diagram of the Nine Realms. Okay, so this is rendered in two dimensions, but imagine that it was three dimensions."

"Why imagine?" Tony picked up his phone and spoke into it. "JARVIS, turn this into three dimensions please."

"Yes, sir. Scanning," said the voice of the AI. The diagram leapt into the air and spun slowly, fleshed out into three dimensions. The circles were now spheres and floating in orbits around each other.

"What are we looking at?" asked Bruce.

"Planetary systems I think, although I'm not completely sure," said Jane. "They could even be galaxies, but I think Yggdrasill is actually the Milky Way. Or just worlds as the Asgardians describe them. The way Thor talked about Asgard, it didn't sound like… Asgard was exactly a planet."

"That's really interesting, but look, this gives us trajectories," said Clint. "And I could hit those like they were the side of a barn. Assuming that distance is no object."

"I think that we can say that wormholes don't worry about that kind of distance. We know that the Bifrost used to be able to reach all eight of the other worlds," replied Tony. "Legolas, you're up. We need to write these destinations into the software and make sure we hit them every time."

"Not a problem," replied Clint, still watching the spinning holograms, all thoughts of sleep and Loki forgotten.

* * *

Jane folded the paper and carefully put it into the box. The three Avengers and Doctor Foster stood in the desert, on the spot where the Bifrost had last been activated. A couple of black-suited SHIELD agents looked on, as they got on with what they'd come to this lonely spot to do.

"I really hope that this is enough," said Jane, as she knelt on the ground beside the box.

"Are you kidding me? We're the dream team," said Tony, lifting his sunglasses enough to see Jane unobstructed.

"Tony, you know that the odds are against us here," said Bruce.

"Just put the stuff in the box and send it off. We'll know soon enough," said Clint, looking to one side and scanning the horizon. His fingers flexed, wishing for his bow even when the threat level was low.

It had taken them three days to draw up the plans for the Bifrost controls and everyone was tired by this point, not just Clint. To be honest, Clint had actually grabbed a few naps between questions about how to get the Bifrost aiming properly, so he might actually have been the least tired out of them all in a strange reversal of roles. They were all running on caffeine and excess adrenaline.

Jane closed the box, and the four of them stood back. A few seconds later the box disappeared skywards in a flash of blue light.

The blue flash was all it took to flick the switch in Clint's head, and he felt his knees hit the dirt.

"You have heart," said Loki.

The blue light was suddenly spreading out from the centre of his chest, and it was cold, so cold. It coloured his vision, and made that cold and blue as well. It crept across his brain and took his emotions from him one by one. He fought it hard, but it was like drowning. He was being dragged under by a force that he didn't understand, and it was too strong for him. All he could do was subvert it occasionally and he had to pick his battles.

He could miss. All he could do was miss Fury's head. He knew the Director of SHIELD wore Kevlar under his leather coat. It would hurt, but Fury would be alive, and coming after Loki as soon as he could stand up. If Fury was alive then there was hope, because he would want his asset back. He had to miss.

He heard his name being called.

"Clint, it's a flashback," said Tony, the one who'd been closest to him. "Come on, buddy, come back to us. It's a flashback, we're in the desert in New Mexico sending Thor his box back."

"Shit, shit, shit," muttered Clint as he realised that he was on all fours and practically hyperventilating. "Yeah, flashback, got it." He instinctively felt for his sidearm, but it wasn't there. Even when he knew it wasn't real, his first instinct was to reach for a weapon to deal with the perceived threat.

Bruce and Tony helped pull him to his feet. He was still breathing like he'd been for a long run. He began one of the exercises that Bruce had taken him through a few weeks ago, and was soon able to slow his breathing to something approaching normal. He shook off the hands that were still holding his arms as if he might fall over again.

"What set it off?" asked Bruce.

"The blue light," said Clint, fumbling in a pocket for his sunglasses. He slipped them on, studiously avoiding the pairs of eyes on him. "I'm fine, okay. Show's over." He shivered, not from cold, but because the adrenaline was leaving his system.

Tony offered him a water bottle and he accepted it with a grateful nod. He was always slightly amazed that there was a human being at the centre of Tony Stark. The billionaire did a lot to pretend that he didn't care and that he was a self-centred jerk, but kept spoiling the picture by doing stuff like inviting a bunch of superheroes to live in his Tower and talking down his mid-flashback housemate. Clint sipped his water, and tried hard to bring his head back to reality.

"How long?" he asked.

"Probably only a couple of minutes," said Bruce.

Clint nodded. Sometimes he could focus on a clock when he was flashing back, and time how long he was there. It helped because he knew he'd never had one longer than seven minutes.

Jane had apparently been briefed beforehand about what to expect, because she didn't seem too surprised by what had just happened. Then again, she was practically Thor's girlfriend so she was probably used to weird stuff happening when Avengers were around. Bruce and Tony made a show of backing off, and leaving Clint to his post-flashback come down.

"Is there anywhere to get a drink in this town?" asked Tony, staring at the sky and now ignoring Clint. "Who knows how long it might be before we get an answer."

"There is a bar, but I'm not sure that I'd recommend it," said Jane.

"Great, sounds perfect," Tony, heading towards the waiting 4x4. "Come on, what are you waiting for? We've got the rest of the day off at least."

Clint exchanged a look with Bruce.

"If we don't go with him, he's only going to cause trouble on his own," said Bruce.

"Probably," said Clint, resignedly following Tony towards the vehicle. Bruce was right.

"How's your head?" asked Bruce.

"So far today, pain free," said Clint. "I might celebrate with a drink."

"Guaranteeing that your head won't be pain free tomorrow?" asked Bruce, in that careful way that he had of probing at the underlying truth. "Alcohol isn't a particularly great way of dealing with a problem."

"It's very rare that I'm off duty long enough to be able to get drunk. It might be a nice change of pace," replied Clint.

He could see that Bruce didn't approve. Normally Clint didn't drink a lot; he preferred to be in control of his body and the surrounding area. That was impossible when he was under the influence of alcohol. Occasionally he would have a night out and come home thoroughly drunk, and he felt like he needed that at the moment.

Tony was behind the steering wheel now, and Jane jumped in the other side to ride shotgun, leaving Bruce and Clint in the back. Normally letting Tony drive was the last thing any of them wanted, but Clint wasn't actually allowed to drive and was too shaken up at the moment anyway. Bruce was busy keeping an eye on Clint, so hadn't been fast enough to claim the driving seat. Jane just didn't understand about the imperative of not letting Tony drive yet, so was simply being polite.

Everyone strapped in and Tony took off at the speed of a rocket. Clint hung on for dear life and considered the irony of being killed by Iron Man in a car accident in New Mexico after surviving the battle for New York. The man drove like he was at the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, which, to be fair, he had actually been once.

"Does this bar have a pool table?" he shouted out to Jane over the engine noise. He hadn't played pool for a long time.

She nodded her head. "Yes, and it's got a dart board."

Tony smiled dangerously. "I have an idea how we can have some fun and maybe cheer up William Tell back there."

"I don't need cheering up," grumped Clint, before beginning to put two and two together. "Oh, she said they have a dart board."

"Oh no, please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking," said Bruce.

"I think he is," said Clint, a smile spreading across his lips.

"Where's the harm in a few games of darts?" asked Jane.

"Doctor Foster, you're clearly an intelligent woman," said Tony, his foot on the accelerator. "Let's go have some fun."


	7. Chapter 7

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: Firstly, apologies for a small delay in the arrival of this chapter. I'm also writing Gears of War fan fiction at the moment and I'm trying to divide my time equally between the two. This is of course, a futile hope. As always, I am extremely grateful to all of those who decided to press the review button. You are quite simply awesome - I love feedback.

AN2: This chapter includes Tony rigging a darts game, swearing, drinking and Clint wearing only his underwear.

* * *

Natasha was already annoyed when she arrived back in New Mexico. The meeting with her contact hadn't exactly gone as expected. It looked like there was a Hydra connection and Hydra wasn't supposed to even exist any more. She ended up calling Steve Rogers as the main authority on Hydra and then inviting him to join her on tracking down the lead. The two of them spent two days following a cold trail in Salzburg, but it got them nowhere. However, although Natasha had been somewhat impressed by Steve's investigative powers and his general professionalism, there were just no clues for them to follow this time.

Fury had asked her to go back to New Mexico to see if Maria Hill needed help wrangling Tony Stark. So Steve had decided to tag along and see what the rest of the team were up to. The Quinjet had landed at Puente Antiguo and they'd gone to the lab immediately, expecting to find everyone working but she'd been told that they'd taken the box out to the desert.

Natasha pulled out her phone and called Clint. He didn't answer, so she tried Stark.

"Hey, Natasha," said Tony. She could hear the background noise of a bar.

"I was told you were taking the box out to the desert. Where are you?"

"Oh, nowhere in particular, just getting a couple of drinks," said Tony. "We finished up with the box hours ago."

"Are the others with you?"

"Yeah. Jane's just showing us a little of the local colour." There was the sound of a cheer from the bar.

Natasha frowned. "Steve came back with me. We'll come and join you."

"Uh, we're nearly done here. In fact, we were just about to leave so there's no point in you guys coming over here," said Tony. Something was not right here.

"Which bar?" asked Natasha.

"Sorry, Natasha, the music is really loud in here. I can't hear you. We'll see you back at the lab," said Stark and then he disconnected the call. Natasha regarded the phone coldly.

"Did Tony just hang up on you?" asked Steve, with undisguised disbelief.

"Yes, which means that he's up to something." Natasha grabbed the nearest SHIELD agent and asked him about the bars in town. Apparently there was only one, so it wouldn't take much to find their missing team mates. She and Steve put on their civilian clothes and headed into town, already fearing the worst.

The bar was full of shiny surfaces and bright neon lights. It also appeared to be quite full and a large number of people were apparently clustered around the end of the pub where the pool tables and dart board resided.

"Tell me he didn't…" murmured Natasha.

There was a loud cheer as someone shouted "One hundred and eighty!"

"He didn't what?" asked Steve.

"Let Clint play darts," said Natasha.

"Why?" asked Steve.

"He's unbeatable for starters," said Natasha, pushing herself through the crowd. "And, secondly, he's quite capable of killing someone with a dart."

She reached the front of the crowd and was greeted by the sight of Clint standing in front of the dart board, aiming carefully. There was a table in front of him and on it was a bottle of vodka and a number of shot glasses lined up in a long row. The last glass was full to the brim. As Clint threw his final dart of three, more cheering erupted as the score was called. He picked up the full shot glass, toasted the crowd and downed it.

Money changed hands around the bar, and Natasha noticed Tony to one side, apparently keeping a book on his phone. Clint's opponent shook his head but took his apparent defeat in a good natured manner, giving Clint a pat on the back as he stepped back into the crowd.

"Okay!" shouted Tony. "Whose up next? My friend here's had a few shots now, he's got to start missing soon, right? One of you has got to be brave enough to give it a try? It's all for charity, remember."

Bruce appeared to be talking rapidly to Tony, trying to sway him from this course of action without much success, while Jane was suggesting to the member of bar staff that was pouring Clint yet another shot of vodka, that perhaps her friend had had enough. Clint was swaying slightly, with a smile on his face and three darts in his hand.

"What the…?" said Steve, crossly.

Natasha rolled her eyes. She was quite simply going to kill Tony, and then she might well move on to garrotting Clint for being this dumb.

"I want another go!" shouted someone from the crowd.

"No, sorry. You only get one bite at the cherry," said Tony. "Let someone else have a go."

Natasha exchanged a look with Steve and then she made straight for Tony. Steve headed for Clint and Jane.

"Shut this down now," she said, standing right in front of him. It was at this point that she realised that Tony was quite drunk too.

"Natasha!" said Tony. "I thought you were going to wait for us at the lab."

"It's just as well that I didn't," she said.

"And Steve!" said Tony. "Great, now it's a proper party. Hey, did you know that Clint is great with darts as well as arrows?"

"Yes," growled Natasha. "Perhaps you'd forgotten the terms of Clint's release to you from the helicarrier. He's not allowed weapons. In Clint's hands, darts are weapons."

"Oh," said Tony. "I hadn't really thought of it like that. I suppose we shouldn't really be doing this then."

Bruce rolled his eyes. "That is what I've been saying all evening. I'm sorry, Agent Romanoff, I did try but I was worried about losing my ability to stay calm."

"It's not your fault, Doctor Banner. I can guess what happened here." She turned back to Tony. "If Maria Hill walks into this room now, Clint will be back on the helicarrier by this time tomorrow. So I'll say it again, shut it down, now." Her tone was calm but with an undercurrent of crystal clear anger. Her eyes were hard and unremitting in meeting Tony's, somewhat drunken, gaze.

Steve appeared to be having some luck in persuading the staff member to remove the vodka, although Clint seemed to be protesting. That didn't last long because Clint was very drunk and had the strength and coordination of wet tissue paper at the moment. Steve was manoeuvring Clint back towards Natasha, with Jane following behind a little anxiously.

The crowd around them, however were becoming somewhat restless, probably because their entertainment was about to be removed.

"I wanted a rematch," said one of the bar patrons.

"Another time, friend," said Steve.

"He took my money, and I want a chance to win it back," he said again moving towards Steve.

This time he took a swing at the super soldier. Apparently he had no idea who Steve was, because even a man as drunk as this one was, would not take a swing at Captain America if he was in his right mind. Natasha watched Steve sidestep the punch easily and carry on bundling Clint towards the exit.

Of course it didn't end there. The man took it as a personal affront that Steve wouldn't fight back and threw another punch. Steve caught the fist with one hand.

"I really wouldn't," he said, fixing the man with his best Captain America glare. "Tony, give these people their money back. It wasn't a fair game."

"Excuse me," said Tony, "but what about it wasn't fair?"

"Clint never misses," said Natasha. "Even when he's drunk."

"We noticed," said Bruce. "Do it, Tony, before you get us into any more trouble."

Tony muttered, but he did give everyone their money back. Once that was done, Natasha got them all out of the bar as quickly as she could. They began the short walk back to the SHIELD facility. The sun was going down now and the shadows were long.

"I'm sorry," said Jane. "This was all a really bad idea. I should never have mentioned the dart board."

"It was all going to charity anyway," said Tony. "We were just trying to cheer up Legolas after his moment in the desert. I wasn't actually going to make any money out of him, but there's this PTSD charity that I've been giving a regular donation to…"

"Tony!" growled Clint. "You have a big mouth." It was the first time he'd spoken since his vodka had been taken away. The slurring was quite pronounced and he was leaning against Steve quite heavily.

"You had another flashback?" asked Natasha.

"Yeah, jus' a little one," said Clint. "Jus' trying to stop myself from blowing Nick Fury's head off. Tha's all. Loki wanted me to kill him, but I didn't. Couldn't keep fighting tho'. Not strong enough to keep fighting."

The silence that followed this remark was complete, apart from the distant music of the bar that they'd left moments ago.

"Except you did miss a lot," said Tony, eventually. "And you don't miss, ever."

Clint frowned, and Natasha could almost see the cogs whirring in his head, even as impaired by alcohol as he was.

"Let's get everyone back to their rooms," said Steve, with resignation. "We'll discuss everything tomorrow morning and maybe Thor will have sent us a reply by then."

Natasha agreed. Tony was too drunk to remain upright for long and Clint was on the verge of passing out. Besides that, she was too angry to face them at the moment. Hopefully that would fade by the morning and she could give Tony a piece of her mind more rationally.

* * *

Steve reflected that it was just as well that the briefing room was well soundproofed, because otherwise, every single SHIELD operative in the facility would have heard the argument that Natasha and Tony were now having in their morning meeting. Luckily the object of their argument was sleeping off a bad hangover and not around to see the trouble that he had inadvertently caused by going along with Tony's scheme.

The team had taken over this briefing room to rake over the remains of last night's mistakes, and generally clear the air. Jane Foster had not been invited, because she was deemed to be blameless. This was also a team matter first and foremost. Bruce Banner sat at one side of the room, managing to look both guilty and as if this was nothing to do with him. On opposite sides of the table were Natasha and Tony, who were currently shouting at each other. Steve had taken the neutral ground at the head of the table in the hopes that he could prevent Natasha from killing anyone.

"What on Earth possessed you to think that it was a good idea to let Clint have alcohol?" shouted Natasha.

"I didn't force him to drink it," shouted Tony back.

"Clint is suffering from PTSD. His judgement is impaired. You were supposed to be taking care of him. You were supposed to be looking out for him," said Natasha. "I thought you had a plan to help him get better, not worse."

"Yeah, well you know what? He actually slept through the night last night," Tony spat back.

"That's because he passed out!" shouted Natasha.

"He needed something to keep him distracted, because his best friend had gone off to follow up some stupid contact for the last two days," said Tony.

"Don't you dare suggest that I care less about Clint than I care about my work," replied Natasha darkly. "You all signed off on looking after him and this isn't looking after him. He'd be better off back on the helicarried with the psychiatrists."

"Enough!" shouted Steve, louder than both combatants.

There was silence in the room.

"I don't care what happened last night, and I don't want to know whose idea it was or who went along with what. Clint is going to be fine, isn't he Doctor Banner?"

"Yes," said Bruce. "Although you should probably all be aware that he definitely went out last night with the intention of getting drunk. Maybe not quite in that style, but he wanted to shut his brain down for a bit. I'm just saying this because he might try it again."

"Drink himself into oblivion?" asked Tony. "That's just great. Now I actually am beginning to think that last night was a bad idea. If anyone says I told you so, then I will not be responsible for my actions."

"You could do with cutting back too, Tony," said Bruce.

"What are you, my mother? Did Pepper put you up to this?"

Bruce raised his eyebrows. "Not at all, but if she thinks you're drinking too much then you should listen to her."

"What I drink is my own business, Doctor Banner," said Tony, sharply. The mood in the room shifted slightly. It had been heated and fiery, now suddenly it was something else. A coolness had settled on the room, and all eyes were on Tony.

"Not if it affects the team," said Steve. He should have realised that there was more to this than there at first appeared. Tony had been a model of good behaviour until last night, and whilst he might have done this sort of thing in the past frequently, he definitely didn't now.

"You know what, screw the team," said Tony, pushing back his chair and holding out his hands, palm up. "If you guys want to lynch me for taking Clint to a bar and letting him have some fun, fine, but don't try to change the subject."

"Tony," said Bruce. "You're the one that said that we're all broken. You were right, but you have to include yourself in that. I know that the battle affected you too. It isn't just Clint that came away with scars."

Steve saw Bruce pause before he spoke again, however the Doctor ploughed on. "You haven't phoned Pepper once in the three days that we've been here. Clint noticed it before I did. He said you'd had a fight before we left."

"No, we are not talking about my private life. This is not happening," said Tony, folding his arms over his chest, and looking in any direction except Bruce's. To be honest Steve was slightly surprised that Tony hadn't just got up and walked out. His body language was about the most defensive that he'd ever seen Tony display.

"Tony, you've been trying to help us," said Steve. "You've got to let us return the favour."

"Why have I got to? Look, I'm not lost sixty years in the future, or recovering from mind control by an alien god, or unable to see my girlfriend because I turn into a giant green rage monster." He indicated Steve and Bruce at the appropriate moments. Bruce just gave him a long suffering look. "I'm just not great at relationships. I always knew that it was a long shot with Pepper. Some things just aren't meant to be."

"You can't possibly be this stupid," said Natasha. "You and Pepper had a fight, so it's over? Call her and apologise for whatever you did."

"It's not that simple," said Tony, he looked like he was about to go on but unfortunately he was interrupted. There was a knock at the door and one of the SHIELD agents poked their head around the door.

"Sirs, Ma'am, we've got some strange readings at the Bifrost site. Doctor Foster requested that I ask you to come and take a look with her," said the agent.

Tony got to his feet with a little too much enthusiasm. "Great, Asgard is finally returning our call. I'll go wake Clint. He won't want to miss this."

"Do it carefully," said Natasha.

"Hey, I'm practically an expert on Clint Barton's screwed up brain after the last few weeks. I won't get close enough for him to hurt me," said Tony. "I'll meet you in the ops room." He almost ran from the room, the door swinging shut behind him.

Steve looked at the other Avengers in the room. "He's not going to make this easy is he?"

Bruce shook his head. "Have any of us made it easy for him to help us?"

"I guess not," conceded Steve. "And I'm not really the best one to help with girl problems."

Natasha gave him an unreadable look, as she rose from her chair. "I doubt any of us are great at relationships. But this is a discussion for another time, right now we need to deal with whatever is happening in the desert."

* * *

Tony knocked loudly on Clint's door and when he didn't immediately get an answer, he picked the lock and went in. The sight that greeted him was not at all untypical of his own state after a serious night on the booze. Clint was lying in his boxers (navy blue, SHIELD issue) on the bed, tangled in his sheets and with arms and legs splayed out so that one arm dangled off the side of the bed. Tony made a side note to buy Clint some decent underwear when he got back to New York.

"Clint, wake up, man. We've got Asgard calling," he shouted, standing well out of Clint's reach should the archer perceive him as a threat as he came round.

Apparently Clint wasn't sleeping terribly deeply because the shout was enough to make him jolt awake. Tony waited until Clint had gone through the ritual of reaching for a weapon that he didn't have, which was pretty standard for any time Clint was startled.

"Tony, why are you in my room?" asked the archer, groggily pushing himself into a sitting position. He rubbed at his eyes and then did some alarming twists of his shoulders that led to loud bone popping sounds.

"Waking you up, why else would I be stood here? Come on, get a move on, Hawkeye, we need to get out to the desert and see what Thor's sent us," said Tony, throwing Clint's t-shirt at him. He caught it easily.

He frowned and rubbed at his forehead. "What the hell did I drink last night?"

"Most of a bottle of vodka, I think," said Tony. "And a few other things, but mostly vodka."

"Ugh, I need my painkillers and lots of water."

Tony had come prepared for this eventuality and handed Clint his painkillers with a bottle of water.

"Shit, please tell me I didn't play darts for money," said Clint, his eyes wide.

"If you like, but it would be a lie," replied Tony. "You may want to give Romanoff a wide berth until she calms down a bit. Admittedly I think she was more mad at me than you, but she's definitely on the warpath."

Clint tipped painkillers into his hand and then downed them with half a bottle of water. He stopped mid gulp and swallowed hard. "When did Natasha get back?"

"In time to see you hit a treble twenty and down your last two shots of vodka," said Tony. "Oh and Steve's with her."

Clint's frown of pain turned into one of puzzlement. "Why would Steve come down here?" he asked pulling on his t-shirt.

"Maybe he missed us," said Tony. He really hadn't thought about why Steve had tagged along with Natasha. He had a suspicion though, and he really didn't want Clint poking at that. Sometimes Clint being smart could be a real pain. "Come on, get a move on, bird brain, or they'll leave without us."

Clint grabbed his pants and pulled them on, then felt around for his boots under the bed. "No time for a shower?" he griped.

"We barely have time for you to put your boots on," said Tony.

There was a rumble of thunder in the distance, and Clint exchanged a rapid and surprised look with Tony, before they both dashed for the window. The wind was beginning to pick up too.

"I thought you said Asgard was sending another message," said Clint.

"That's what we thought, but maybe they decided to jump straight to the end and send us a God of Thunder. Come on, we have got to see this," said Tony.

"Damn right," said Clint, grabbing his sunglasses.

The two men ran out of the compound just in time to see the clouds funnel downwards to the desert below. Clint indicated the 4x4 that they'd used the previous day.

"Orders be damned, I'm driving," said Clint, as the two of them ran for the vehicle. Tony wasn't about to argue. He was willing to bet that Clint was quite capable of being a demon driver if he needed to be, and he'd watched how having other people drive him around had driven Clint to distraction.

Tony jumped into the passenger seat in time to see Steve, Natasha, Bruce and Jane all heading for another vehicle. Clint punched it and accelerated out of the compound towards the storm that was hitting the ground as they approached. Tony had been right, Clint knew how to drive.

"Could have done with you at Monaco," said Tony, well actually he shouted because Clint wasn't sparing the horses.

"Too busy babysitting Selvig," replied Clint. "That kind of stuff is more Natasha's thing anyway."

"Does she drive like you do? Because otherwise I'm really thinking not," said Tony.

"We are talking about the same Natasha Romanoff?" asked Clint, innocently.

Then the storm began in earnest, as if it hadn't really been giving it its all up until this point. Torrential rain began to pour from the sky, which had suddenly darkened with ink black clouds. They had apparently been formed from a sky that had been perfectly blue when they awoke that morning. The ground beneath their wheels was turning to mud and traction was becoming non-existent very rapidly.

"This is just like when he came for the hammer," said Clint. Tony didn't have a reply for that so he said nothing.

Tony held onto the grab handle for dear life, as they tried to turn a corner in the road but skidded instead. Tony was even more appreciative of Clint's driving skills as he smoothly turned into the skid and got them back on track.

The thunder rumbled once more, spiting lightening onto the desert floor. Visibility was increasingly poor and the windscreen wipers were going nineteen to the dozen. However Tony could still make out the massive shape in front of them and the flashes of light above it.

"There," shouted Tony, as they came up on what seemed to be an extremely localised hurricane with a light show at its top. He craned his neck to get a better view through the windscreen. "An aurora, just like Jane said. That is goddamn amazing."

"Shit," said Clint as he slammed on the brakes, and they failed to stop on the slick surface.

"Clint!" shouted Tony, as the 4x4 headed for the edge of the hurricane.

"I'm trying," Clint shouted back, and finally put them into a seamless sideways drift away from the fast moving air.

The rain became hail as they ground to a halt, their nose pointing toward the Bifrost site. It banged down on the roof of their vehicle making it hard to hear.

"Woohoo!" whooped Tony. "That was awesome."

"Not the word I would have used. Were the others behind us?" asked Clint.

"Yes, but a way back. We probably couldn't see them in this anyway," said Tony, looking up at the whirlwind in front of them. "I don't remember Jane mentioning the weather being this bad the first time Thor landed."

"Or when the Destroyer came through," said Clint. "I was there for that. When we first saw it, Coulson thought it might be one of your toys."

"Hah," said Tony. "As if I'd build something with so little finesse."

Clint wasn't paying attention to Tony though, he'd spotted something. "Incoming."

The ground shook beneath them and then suddenly the clouds were withdrawing, back into the clear sky from which they'd come. The hail turned back into rain and the thunder was quiet. A few moments later even the rain had stopped.

Clint and Tony got out of their vehicle, stepping down onto mud. However, the Bifrost site itself was completely dry and in its centre, on one knee, was Thor, God of Thunder, prince of Asgard and member of the Avengers. Mjolnir rested beside him, a hand lightly on the shaft of the great hammer. His armour shone in the sun and his red cloak was the brightest colour for miles. He looked up, blue eyes sparkling and grinned.

"My friends!" Thor got to his feet.

"I'll be damned, it worked," said Clint. "Welcome back, Thor." He reached out an arm and Thor clasped it in a traditional warrior's handshake. Tony decided that this was clearly the done thing in this situation so offered his own arm which was clasped equally warmly.

"Of course it worked," said Tony. "I told you we were the dream team."

"Was there ever any doubt that you could achieve this," said Thor. "You are Tony, Man of Iron and equal to the Dwarves in your knowledge of weaponry."

Tony flinched slightly at this. He preferred to be known for things other than his ability to build weapons these days. Thor was a warrior first and foremost and of course saw prowess with weaponry as being important. He didn't get a chance to set Thor straight because the second vehicle pulled up behind them, and the other Avengers plus Jane tumbled out, each greeting Thor as they did so.

Thor's greeting of Jane was quite something and actually made Steve blush, which Tony would have paid money to see but was now getting for free. He'd tease him about it later.

"Great, the gang's all here," said Tony. For once everyone was smiling, no one was complaining about Clint deciding to drive and pretty much everything was going well. It didn't last however, such moments never did in his experience.

This time the moment was spoilt by Maria Hill and several SHIELD agents arriving in a black SUV. When he looked back on this moment he'd note that pretty much everything went downhill from there.

Maria Hill stepped up and officially welcomed Thor back to Earth. Thor was equally formal in his reply.

"I have brought the men and women of SHIELD a gift," said Thor and opened a pouch on his belt. He pulled out a glowing blue stone, about the size of a hen's egg but perfectly oval. "This is similar to the stone that was set into Loki's spear, and holds considerable power." He held it up so that it shone in the sun, the inner glow twisting and turning inside as if the stone was alive.

Clint was suddenly taking several steps back from the main group, and when Tony looked round he knew from bitter experience that Clint wasn't really with them anymore. Clint was looking straight forwards, at nothing and his body tensed, ready for action.

Tony flicked his eyes towards Steve who had also noticed that something wasn't right as soon as Clint stepped back. The two of them were now moving straight for Clint, ready to get into position on either side of him and sit him down. Natasha was equally quick on the uptake, probably knowing how this would affect her partner the moment she saw the stone and Bruce registered what was going on just a second after her.

All of the Earth-based Avengers were now converging on Clint without a word having been said between them. Tony was slightly in awe of this reaction, he hadn't realised just how much helping Clint had brought them together as a functioning team. Of course Thor had no idea what was going on, but that wasn't a bad thing. He could keep Maria occupied for a few moments longer, and Tony wasn't looking forward to the conversation that they were going to have to have with Thor in which they explained Clint's condition and what had caused it.

So, your brother Loki, he's a real piece of work. He raped our friend's mind and now Clint can't sleep at night, won't let anyone even hold a door open for him and goes catatonic every so often. Oh yes, that was going to make Thor feel really good, because Tony could already tell that Thor would see it as his fault. Even though it was his fucked up brother who had done the damage.

"Back to the SUV," said Steve, quietly.

"Yeah, if he'll let us," said Tony. He could see Clint's lips moving, repeating things that had been said in whichever moment he was currently living through. "Clint, it's a flashback. Come back to us, Legolas." Tony said it three times and then turned to Natasha, she nodded. She spoke in Russian, it had worked three nights ago to bring him out of a bad dream, they'd heard her.

Clint put a hand to his head, another automatically reaching for the bottle of pills which he always carried in his pocket. This was autopilot though, an unconscious act because he was in pain. He was still muttering, it was something about the helicarrier but Tony couldn't catch it. Clint grimaced and downed two pills, dry.

Usually touching Clint in these moments was a bad idea, but Natasha edged him towards the SUV just using her proximity to him to get him to move. She was still speaking careful Russian and Tony had no idea what she was saying to him. Her voice was quiet, calm and measured. Clint groaned, stopping with his hand on his head and eyes screwed shut. He reached for the bottle of pills again.

"Don't let him take any more," said Bruce.

Steve reached for the bottle of pills, and tried to remove them from Clint's hand. Clint didn't seem to take this well, which was part of the reason that it was Natasha and Steve now taking point on bringing him out of it. Clint might be ill but it wasn't physical. He hadn't stopped his training, lost any of his muscle tone or his sharp reflexes. He was still a very dangerous man to deal with in this state and Tony saw his automatic reaction to find a weapon as the pills were taken from him.

Suddenly Steve tossed the pills to Bruce, who caught them adeptly enough and pocketed them. This left Steve's hands free, which was just as well because Clint was coming at him. The super soldier simply caught the punch that Clint aimed at him, although Clint was twisting out of his grip before Steve could stop him. He was lining up for another punch in moments.

Deputy Director Hill had now noticed that something was going on, it was hard not to at this point.

"Restrain him," she ordered the SHIELD agents that had accompanied her.

"No," said Tony, quickly. "We've got this, stand down. You'll just make it worse if you come at him en masse."

To her credit, Maria did as Tony asked and indicated for the agents to wait.

Clint was clearly in pain and not going to last long against Steve in this state. The two of them sparred on a regular basis in the gym and had got to know each other's moves after only a few days. Tony had watched them, so he knew that normally Clint was faster than this and better controlled, easily able to give Steve a run for his money by dodging until the super soldier got frustrated and careless. The punch he'd thrown was uncoordinated, although there were shadows of his usual form underneath it. However, Steve was hampered by trying not to hurt Clint.

It all became something of a moot point as Clint clutched his head and stopped all attempts at fighting. Steve grasped the opportunity and wrapped his huge, well-muscled arms around the struggling archer. The struggles were weaker now though and Clint was holding his head and groaning. Tony noticed a dribble of blood from Clint's nose.

"Clint, it's okay," said Steve. "Calm down, it's Steve and I don't want to hurt you."

"Bruce, he's bleeding," said Tony, trying to keep the panic out of his voice but not entirely succeeding.

"We need to get him back to the medical bay now," said Bruce. "This isn't right."

Suddenly Clint went limp, and Steve was left holding up a dead weight. He simply scooped up the archer's legs and loaded him into the SUV. Clint looked ridiculously small against Steve's form. Natasha was already moving to the driver's seat. Tony moved to join them, but Bruce stopped him.

"Someone needs to talk to Thor and Hill," he said, and Tony realised that he was right. There was damage control to be done and he was the only person available to do it at the moment.

"Okay, take care of Clint. I'll be there as soon as I can," said Tony, and he turned back to Thor and Jane, as Bruce climbed in beside Clint. Bruce shut the SUV's door and it sped off across the desert.

"What has transpired here?" asked Thor. "I thought that Agent Barton was no longer under the control of my brother."

"He isn't," said Tony. "Something just triggered a flashback. At a guess, I'd say it was your glowing blue stone."

Hill's eyes were flashing with anger. "This is exactly why Agent Barton should not have been here. Perhaps next time you'll listen to what I have to say."

"I doubt it," said Tony. "We had it under control."

Thor frowned. "I don't understand. Why would this make Agent Barton attack Captain Rogers? What is a flashback?"

"Look, I'm not the best person to explain the medical stuff, you need to talk to Bruce. Clint isn't well. Loki hurt him and he's struggling to get better," said Tony.

Thor's face was dark with worry. "I had not realised that my brother's actions had such consequences. I will do everything that I can to assist in Agent Barton's recovery. I would talk with Doctor Banner so that he can tell me more about this condition which our friend suffers from."

Jane seemed pleasantly surprised by Thor's answer and nodded her head. Tony was having a similar reaction. He hadn't really expected the God of Thunder to be so understanding. He'd imagined that the Asgardians' response to such things was similar to Steve's experience; either sufferers were locked away as crazy or treated as cowards and ostracised. Perhaps Asgardians just didn't get PTSD.

"I expect Bruce is going to be busy with Clint for a while, but after he's done, I'm sure he'd be happy to talk to you, Point Break. Come on let's get you back to base."

"Wait," said Hill. "There's something we need to discuss." She turned to Thor. "We need your assurance that Earth is going to be secure. The Bifrost is open again. What's to stop your father sending an army through?"

"Nothing," said Thor. "But he would not. He has no interest in conquest. Earth is under my protection and will remain so until my last breath."

"With respect, we've already had another Asgardian come to Earth and declare war," said Hill.

"Seriously, you're really going to do this now?" said Tony, disbelief in his voice. He wanted to get back to the base and check on Clint.

"Loki did not come through the Bifrost, and Earth now has enemies that would not need to use the Bifrost to travel here. The Chitauri to name but one," said Thor. "I am here to ensure your safety, sent by my father to be his emissary. If it will satisfy your rulers then we will draw up a treaty and the All-Father will put his name to it."

Apparently this was exactly the right thing to say because Maria nodded her head. "Very well. Let's get back to the SHIELD compound and we'll work out the details."

Finally Tony was able to follow the other Avengers back to base. This time he made sure that he was driving and his foot was to the floor for the entire journey.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Welcome to Chapter 8. In which Clint is brought grapes, Thor gets a lesson in mental health and Tony has some questions for Steve.

As always for chapters involving medical stuff, I am not a doctor. Everything medical that I know I've gained from watching medical dramas and reading the internet. I try to be as accurate as I can but when there is no medical precedent, I also make stuff up.

With extra thanks to my reviewers for Chapter 7: JRBarton, The Nagging Cube, Katherine41319, Harm Marie, Emma PixieLix Duggan, Kimbee, Hawaiichick, RandmWriter, Hope06. Your comments are much appreciated as always.

* * *

Clint awoke in the medical bay of the SHIELD compound. He'd been in various SHIELD medical facilities often enough that he knew them by sound and smell alone. His head was pounding and, when he briefly opened his eyes, he closed them again quickly because the pain that the light caused him was excruciating. There was a distinct feeling of nausea in his stomach. He could already feel the sharp prick of an IV needle in the back of his hand and then someone was putting something on his face, it felt like a pair of glasses. He realised that he was actually too weak to contemplate moving at the moment. The pain was debilitating and crushing down any response except to ride it out until it went away.

He heard the sound of curtains being pulled shut.

"Try opening your eyes again," said a familiar female voice. He'd opened his eyes to her beside his hospital bed before.

So Clint obeyed the instruction and blinked. The light was more manageable now since apparently the glasses were his own sunglasses and the room was pleasantly dim. He looked at the person next to his bed. She was just taking her seat again and leaning towards him.

"Nat," he croaked. She reached out and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

He looked around the room and saw that Bruce Banner was snoozing in an armchair. He looked uncomfortable, with his neck at an awkward angle and a book resting precariously on his lap. His glasses were hooked into his top pocket rather more carefully.

"Clint, are you hurting?" asked Natasha, pulling his attention back to her.

"Yeah," said Clint, with a groan. His chances of lying to Natasha in this state were pretty much nil. It wasn't worth the aggro to try and his head was having real trouble forming coherent thoughts anyway.

Natasha pressed the call button. "Hang in there."

Clint knew what happened next. One of the medics would come and give him something that would make him comfortably sleepy and pain free. The pain free bit was fine, it was the sleepy bit that he didn't want.

"Nat, I've just woken up. Don't let them knock me out again." He could hear how weak and pathetic his voice sounded.

"It's okay, I know you, remember. They've got instructions not to give you anything too strong unless absolutely necessary."

Bruce was awoken by the SHIELD medic coming into the room, his book falling to the floor with a thump. He quickly smoothed down his crumpled clothes into something respectable and checked his watch. He picked up the book and put it on the chair, apologising as he did so.

"Hi there, Agent Barton," said the medic and Clint immediately recognised him as Aaron Roberts. He was one of the few medics that Clint could stand being in the care of. He was army medical corps before joining SHIELD and didn't mess around. Clint knew he hadn't been on base in New Mexico, so he wondered what he was doing here now. He'd have to quiz Natasha about that when he felt up to the task.

"How are you feeling?" asked Aaron. He consulted the chart at the end of the bed and then passed it to Bruce for him to read over. Bruce pulled out his glasses and flicked between the two pages attached to the clipboard.

"Head hurts," Clint managed. It was getting to the point where he was having trouble even talking. Natasha gave him a strange look, probably because she wasn't used to him being so truthful when it came to hospital stays, but it really did hurt.

"On the Barton scale of one to ten?" asked Aaron.

"Six," said Clint.

Aaron raised his eyebrows, most likely because he knew that Clint rarely told the truth when it came to pain levels and Clint's six would be someone else's ten. Clint always reckoned that he'd either be unconscious or dead at ten anyway, so pain relief was somewhat irrelevant by that point and he almost always estimated low so that his brain wasn't impaired by whatever they gave him. He'd rather be in some discomfort but still able to think clearly. Six was kind of high for him, but his head pretty much felt like someone had scooped his brains out with a blunt spoon.

"Okay, level six pain medication coming right up." Aaron took out a vial of something that he inserted a needle into. He drew up liquid into the syringe and then put the contents into a port on the IV line. "This won't make you sleep, but it's going to leave you fuzzy. If it's not enough then tell me."

"Thanks," Clint mumbled. It took a few minutes for the medication to reach him, but when it did it began to relieve the ache in his head. However, Aaron was right, he felt a corresponding drop in alertness. It was like being slightly drunk, but there was also a general feeling of warmth that was actually quite nice and still spreading. He found he'd tensed himself against the pain in his head and now he was able to relax back against his pillows.

"Nat, what happened?" asked Clint. His words were just beginning to slur as the drug took hold.

"You had another flashback. It was worse this time, you didn't know who any of us were and your head seemed to be causing you some discomfort. Whatever you were seeing, it caused you pain. You took a couple of swings at Steve, started bleeding from your nose and passed out," said Natasha.

Clint sighed. "Shit, Hill was there. I had a psychotic break in front of the Deputy Director."

Bruce handed the chart back to Aaron, and the medic started writing.

Bruce chewed on the end of the arm of his glasses. "You had symptoms associated with PTSD, right up until your nose started bleeding and you passed out. It wasn't a psychotic break, it was just a really bad non-responsive flashback. It's the other symptoms that worry me more. We need to investigate the headaches that you've been getting."

Clint frowned and tried to make his brain work. "Why does it still hurt?"

Bruce paused. "We think that whatever it is that's giving you the headaches is creating inflammation, and it's caused a very rare type of aseptic meningitis. We're treating you for that, but we need to do some more tests."

Clint's frown deepened. "Meningitis?"

Bruce nodded. "Basically an inflammation of the meninges. They're the membranes that protect the brain and spinal column. It's extremely rare for there to be a non-bacterial or non-viral cause for meningitis, but we're on new ground here."

"Why didn't you tell us that the headaches were getting worse?" asked Natasha.

He could always guarantee that Nat would ask the one question that he didn't want to answer. "Dunno. I guess I just expected them to go away once I remembered." That and they really hadn't seemed important compared to getting the Bifrost working or just dealing with his PTSD.

Natasha called him an idiot in three different languages. He had to agree with her this time.

"I don't think they're going to get better on their own," said Bruce. "I've spoken to the doctor here that treated you when we brought you in, and we think we need to bring in a specialist, a neurologist. I've asked SHIELD medical to make a recommendation."

Clint was shaking his head before Bruce even finished the sentence. "No more doctors." The fuzziness in his head wasn't helping, but he knew he didn't want any more people poking and prodding at his brain. Wasn't that why he'd agreed to let Bruce take over his care in the first place?

"Clint, I know you don't like doctors, but we need to get to the bottom of this," said Natasha. "This is your life at stake."

Bruce nodded his head in agreement. "This time you had a nose bleed, next time it might be a bleed in your brain. If that happens then you could die."

Even under the influence of warm fuzzy drugs, that got through to him. "Okay, I get it. I'll see the neurologist."

"Good," said Bruce. "I'll set it up."

"How long am I going to be here?" asked Clint.

Bruce glanced over to Aaron, who looked up from his chart. "A couple of days probably. We just need the inflammation to go down and the pain should subside."

Clint groaned. He hated medical facilities. Of course he doubted that anyone actually enjoyed being in a hospital, but he'd seen more than his fair share over the years and had honed dislike into detestation. The problem was the vulnerability. He was never allowed his weapons, frustrating in itself but he was also normally injured and therefore less able to defend himself should the need arise. Not that it ever had in any SHIELD facility.

At least Aaron wouldn't drug him into submission or ignore his wishes like some places he'd had the misfortune to end up in. Aaron usually let Clint do whatever stupid thing he wanted to do after he'd told him not to, and then went back to pick up the pieces afterwards. The result of this was that Clint now mostly paid attention when Aaron told him not to do something. Natasha definitely knew that and it was probably the reason why he was here now.

Tony Stark wandered into the room and apparently hadn't expected Clint to be awake, so paused for just a second as he stepped through the doorway.

"Hey, Legolas, you made it back to the land of the living," said Tony. He deposited a basket with about half a vine's worth of grapes in it on the nightstand. Of course Tony couldn't just bring him one bunch in a plastic bag, he had to go one better. "It would be great if you could stop scaring us like this. So what's the verdict?"

"Aseptic meningitis, brought on by the headaches," said Clint, just to prove that he'd been listening. His eyes roved around the room, finding everything suddenly more interesting than it had been a few moments ago. He wondered why that was. Oh, right, happy drugs and apparently these took a while to kick in properly. He needed to have words with Aaron about his choice of painkillers.

"Sucks to be you," said Tony helpfully, as he stole a few grapes from the basket and popped them in his mouth.

"It's not much fun and that's for sure," replied Clint. "Was I out long?"

"A day or so," said Natasha.

"Did I miss dinner?" he asked. Where did that come from, he wondered?

"Yes, are you hungry?" asked Natasha. Bruce and Tony exchanged a glance, and Clint saw Bruce mouth "drugs" at the billionaire.

"No, feel kind of sick," said Clint.

"Just now or since you woke up?" asked Bruce, paying more attention now. Aaron wrote something on the chart, and showed Bruce.

"Since I woke up," he said.

Bruce read Aaron's note and nodded. "Probably the medication that we gave you for the inflammation. Aaron made sure that he gave you a painkiller that we know you tolerate well."

Clint smiled and then giggled. That meant he was really not in his right mind. "Yeah, Aaron wouldn't want a repeat of last time. I puked my guts up all over him."

Tony's eyebrows rose. "Okay, that was more information than I really needed to know."

"I'll ask the doctor to prescribe something for the nausea," said Bruce, ambling towards the door.

Clint smiled and blinked slowly. The world seemed to be slowing down nicely and he quite liked this. Usually he didn't like drugs, but he was appreciating not being in excruciating pain. Someone said something to him, but it seemed rather unimportant at the moment, as if it had been said a long way away.

"Clint?" asked Natasha.

"Huh?" asked Clint. Yes, he was clearly beyond rational conversation now. Bruce and Aaron were gone and he hadn't even noticed them leave the room.

"Do you want anything? A book? Tony was offering you a StarkPad and some movies."

"Nah, too spaced out to concentrate," said Clint. The ceiling tiles had some really interesting patterns on them that he was just beginning to properly see.

"We'd noticed," said Tony, with a sigh. "Anyway, Red Sonja needs some sleep, so I get to sit here and listen to your drug addled murmurings for a bit. At least until it's Steve's turn to take over."

"You going, Nat?" asked Clint, a little sadly, although the more lucid part of his brain was trying to ask "wait, they're taking turns to sit with me?" followed by "why didn't Natasha get any sleep last night?", but those questions got lost in the general fog of drugs. And Tony was stealing his grapes again, not that he felt up to eating them himself but it was the principle of the thing.

"Tony's right, I've been up all night. I'll be back later." Natasha got to her feet, and Tony took her seat.

"Okay," murmured Clint. "Stark, stop eating my grapes. I'm high on painkillers not blind."

"Huh, I think that might be the first coherent thing you've said since I got here. I can tell I'm in for an afternoon of thrilling conversation." Tony was getting out his StarkPad and spreading holograms around, so Clint didn't think he was really looking for conversation.

"Where's Thor?" he asked anyway, and because his last memory before this was seeing the Thunder God arrive.

"In a long, dull meeting with Hill and Fury over video link," said Tony, not really paying attention to Clint.

"Tony's mad because he wasn't invited," said Natasha, as she headed for the door.

"Only because I wanted to mess with Hill," said Tony. "And watch Thor try to work out videoconferencing. I bet that was hilarious."

Clint tuned out the rest of the conversation and drifted happily, even after Natasha had left. Eventually he fell asleep, but by this point he didn't mind too much. He actually felt safe in a hospital for once.

* * *

Thor completed his meeting with Deputy Director Hill and Director Fury and went in search of his companions. He found most of them in Jane's lab. Bruce and Jane were collating the data that they had gathered from the most recent opening of the Bifrost, whilst Steve was sat on a stool at a lab bench, trying to read the day's newspaper. Natasha, the Black Widow, was sleeping in an armchair, with a blanket thrown over her. Tony Stark, Man of Iron was not present.

Jane smiled as he came in and he returned the smile with a nod to his lady. However, as he observed the scene, his eyes rested on the Widow in Black. It was unusual for her to be sleeping at this time of day. Bruce noticed this and his eyes followed Thor's gaze.

"She's been up all night with Clint making sure he didn't pull his IV out," said Bruce. "He doesn't sleep well, even when he's under sedation."

"I do not understand most of what you are saying, Doctor Banner, but I do understand that Agent Barton is unwell," said Thor. "What may I ask is his affliction? Something caused by my brother's treatment of him?"

Bruce removed his glasses. He appeared to think for a moment.

"Clint is suffering from something called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short. When a human experiences an event that causes them to experience intense fear or helplessness, they can have trouble dealing with it after the fact. They have trouble sleeping because of nightmares, relive memories of the event, avoid anything that reminds them of what they went through, have mood swings and anxiety attacks. Basically even though the traumatic event has passed, their body keeps reacting to it as if it were still happening. Not everyone gets it, but after something as traumatic as Loki taking control of his mind… I'm not surprised at all that Clint has it."

Thor frowned and tried to make sense of what Bruce was saying. "So this is a disease of the spirit?"

Jane and Steve were listening with interest to this exchange, but remaining quiet for the moment.

"I suppose that could be one way of describing it," said Bruce.

"We have these on Asgard, although they are rare. Sometimes a melancholy will take one of us and that person will slowly lose their enthusiasm for all things. Unless action is taken to heal the person then death will eventually take them. They are difficult to heal because the healing stones will not work upon such illnesses," said Thor.

"What you're describing sounds like a severe form of what we would call clinical depression," said Bruce.

"Healing stones?" asked Steve. "What are they?"

"Magical stones that mend wounds and broken bones," said Thor. "They require a skilled healer to apply them."

Steve raised his eyebrows. "They sound… useful."

"Indeed they are and I was most shocked to realise that they do not exist on Midgard," said Thor. "However, I suspect that their magic would be lessened if we tried to bring them here. Part of their power is drawn from soil of Asgard."

"That's interesting," said Bruce, clearly inferring something from this information. Jane too looked like she had just heard an interesting fact. No doubt they would explain to him at some point what was so interesting.

"Diseases of the spirit do not normally lead to collapse so quickly," said Thor.

"No, you're right, they don't," said Bruce. "There's something else going on. We think that this is related to whatever Loki did to control him. Clint has been getting headaches when he tries to remember some things about his time under Loki's control. This seems to have created inflammation and cell damage that increased the pain to such a point that he passed out. We can treat the symptoms and get the inflammation under control, but we need to work out what's causing the headaches because they are apparently causing small amounts of damage every time they happen."

"Pain of the head?" asked Thor. "That is indeed worrisome, and I would do whatever can be done to help Agent Barton. This was Loki's doing and it must be set right."

Steve nodded. "I agree, but the best doctors on Earth aren't going to have any experience of dealing with alien mind control. SHIELD have Loki's spear locked away somewhere. I'm told it doesn't work so well now that the Tesseract isn't on Earth anymore, but maybe they'd let Tony take another look at it."

"We had that spear in the lab on the helicarrier and analysed it then. It was pretty impenetrable. I don't think we're going to be able to find out much from it. We need to get some more brain scans done and get him seen by a neurologist," said Bruce.

"Clint isn't going to like that," said Steve.

"Well, he agreed to see the neurologist, although he's pretty high on pain meds at the moment so that might be making him more predisposed to saying yes," Bruce replied.

Thor wasn't sure what any of this meant. The doctor had a way of talking that meant whilst he understood most of the words that he said, the sentences that they created were hard to decipher.

"Can I take a look at the data from the spear?" asked Jane.

"The more the merrier," said Bruce. "A fresh pair of eyes might find something that Tony and I missed."

Jane then said something which no one had thought of but was an incredibly obvious line of inquiry.

"Eric Selvig hasn't been having any of these symptoms. I mean he's definitely not right, Loki forced him to build something that could have destroyed the Earth and like Agent Barton there are things that he just doesn't remember. But he hasn't mentioned headaches. I spoke to him yesterday and he sounded fine," said Jane. "Maybe we should check out some of the other agents that were under Loki's control and see if they've encountered the same thing."

Bruce nodded and the two scientists started to talk in language that Thor knew from the start he'd never have a hope of comprehending. Steve seemed to understand this.

"Come on," said Steve, folding up the newspaper that he'd been reading when Thor walked in. "Let's go keep Tony company while he's watching Clint."

* * *

Steve led Thor towards the medical bay.

"I have much trouble understa understanding Jane and Doctor Banner when they speak together," said Thor.

"Yeah, it can be pretty difficult," said Steve. "It's worse when Tony gets involved as well. It's like they're not even speaking English anymore."

They rounded the corner and Steve knocked on the door quietly. Clint was sleeping, curled on his side under the dark grey SHIELD issue blankets, and he didn't want to wake him. Tony looked up from the StarkPad that he was working on. He put a finger to his lips, glancing at Clint and indicating for them to remain quiet. He got up from his chair quietly and motioned for everyone to step out into the corridor.

Tony pulled the door to, without quite closing it. "He's just settled again after another nightmare, and the doctors keep saying he needs his sleep." He looked Thor up and down. "So did Fury and Hill get done giving you the third degree?"

"The third degree?" asked Thor.

"He wants to know if they've finished asking you questions," said Steve.

"Yes, what he said," replied Tony, with an exasperated roll of his eyes.

"We have reached an agreement. I will take the treaty back to Asgard and my father will sign it. Director Fury seemed to think that it might take several days to prepare."

"Yeah, and before you take it home I'll have my lawyers look it over too," said Tony. "Who knows what they might sneak in there otherwise." He switched his attention to Steve. "Did you tell Goldilocks about our new living arrangements?"

"I thought I'd leave that one to you," said Steve, with a slight smile.

"Great. So the short version is that you've got an apartment in what used to be Stark Tower back in New York waiting for you. It's called Avengers Tower now. I renamed it because it was way cooler and, well, since we're all going to be living there it seemed… obvious," said Tony. "We've pretty much been waiting for you to get your ass back here so that we can have our class reunion."

Thor looked a little bemused at first and then smiled. "An excellent idea, my friends. Warriors should reside together and we should have a feast to celebrate my return. When can we return to New York and commence the festivities?"

Tony glanced back towards Clint's room. "As soon as we can spring our archer. The doctors say a couple of days, as long as we can keep him in bed. According to Romanoff, trying to keep Clint in a hospital bed is like getting water to flow uphill so we've got our work cut out for us."

Thor frowned. "Is the healing room an unpleasant place to be?"

"You mean it's not on Asgard?" asked Tony.

"Healing is mostly performed while a patient sleeps," replied Thor.

Steve wondered how he explained all the less good things about being hospital to Thor. He decided that he just didn't and concentrated on the main one. Thor would probably understand it if spent some time with Clint.

"We don't just sleep through being healed, so being injured or ill in a hospital is never fun. But I get the impression that Hawkeye has history with some not so nice medical establishments," said Steve.

"And he's got a few issues with letting other people take control over his life at the moment, which is pretty much what being in hospital is all about," said Tony. "But score one for Natasha for flying in Aaron Roberts from the helicarrier. Barton actually seems to do what he says."

"Perhaps I could sit with him for a while," said Thor, looking towards Clint's room. "If you instruct me on what to do if another nightmare approaches, then I should be adequate to the task."

Tony shrugged. "Sure, why not? We'll just add you to the roster. I need to have a word with Stars and Stripes anyway."

Steve frowned, but waited while Tony took Thor back into Clint's room and explained about not letting Clint pull out his IV and when to press the call button to summon Aaron if things looked like escalating. Thor was perhaps slightly confused, but for once Tony didn't patronise the Asgardian and understanding was reached.

Tony then dragged Steve into one of the unoccupied exam rooms. He shut the door firmly and turned to face the super soldier, with a determined look on his face. Steve recognised this look, it was the same one that he'd had when he'd decided to hack the SHIELD database for information on Stage Two weapons.

"We haven't had a chance to talk properly since you arrived with Natasha. So, what are you doing here?"

"I thought you might need help with the Bifrost situation," said Steve. As far as he knew, what they'd been doing in Salzburg was Need to Know, and Tony didn't need to know.

"Yeah, that might work on some people, but I'm not one of them," said Tony. "Come on, Captain, you're not a spy and you don't work for SHIELD."

Steve sighed. "I was helping Natasha. One of the women that Clint recruited to attack the helicarrier… Natasha found a connection to an old Hydra cell. Hydra isn't supposed to even still be operating. According to SHIELD, they pretty much crumbled after I took down the Red Skull."

"Damn Clint and his awesome evil henchman hiring skills," said Tony. "So what's this woman's name?"

"She goes by the codename Viper. No one seems to know her real name, but she's been on SHIELD's radar before. This is the first time that the Hydra connection has come up," said Steve. He paused for a beat before continuing. "Tony, if Hydra is operating again…"

"I know, I know. You want them taken down," said Tony. "So, let the rest of us help."

Steve shook his head. "Natasha's already worried about Clint finding out. Remembering things from when he was controlled by Loki makes him ill, Tony. That's why he's currently lying in a hospital bed, and I'm not going to be responsible for causing him pain. He's been through enough."

"I've got news for you, Steve," said Tony. "Clint already knows that something is up. He wanted to know why you arrived back here with Natasha, and for someone that makes their living out of shooting things with medieval weaponry, he's surprisingly smart. If he doesn't have the entire thing worked out by the end of the week, it'll only be because he's not his usual observant self right now. Romanoff may be good at the sneaking, but you, my friend, have no hope of hiding anything."

"Then what should I do?"

"Tell him you're going after Hydra and don't tell him how you got the lead," said Tony, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"You don't think that he's going to want to know? This is Hawkeye. He's one of SHIELD's best agents," said Steve, gesturing in the direction of Clint's room.

"He's also used to all that stupid "need to know" spy stuff. Romanoff can say it's classified or something," said Tony.

"You've got this all worked out, don't you?" accused Steve. "It sounds more like you just want to stick your nose in and are looking for an excuse."

"Are you really this dense? If Clint finds out the connection between this woman and his little band of mercenaries, then that will hurt him. If you go up against whatever is left of Hydra on your own, then you'll probably end up getting yourself killed. This is a win win situation. We protect the team. All of it," said Tony, his eyes said that he wasn't going to take "No" for an answer.

Steve was silent for a minute. "Okay, we'll do it your way. I'll talk to Natasha. But first things first, we need to get Clint back home and settled before we tell him any of this."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, he's going to need a few days, and by then your new apartments should be ready. We can have a house warming party."

"Thor did say that he wanted a feast," said Steve, with a little resignation.

"Then we should give him one," said Tony, with a smirk that Steve didn't like one bit. "And whilst we're waiting for Clint, we can look into your Hydra problem."

* * *

AN2: I love reviews. Love them. Go on, press the button. You know you want to.


	9. Chapter 9

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: In this chapter Tony follows the money, Clint is tricked by Natasha and Bruce talks in-flight entertainment with Thor.

Reviewers: first time, third time or every time, you're all fantastic. Chapter 8 reviewers: JRBarton, darkbutterbiscuit, Kmy068, Kimbee, PuraStones, Evenstar214, Harm Marie, Hawaiichick, Alpha Flyer.

* * *

By mutual consensus, all the members of the Avengers Initiative decided to stay in New Mexico until Clint was ready to go home. At least partly this was because a drugged Clint needed watching constantly; the pain medication meant that he very rarely slept without bad dreams. He was also as high as a kite quite a lot of the rest of the time and therefore not thinking straight. But no one begrudged Clint a few days of their time and Bruce seemed to think that his recovery was on track, so there didn't seem much point in going back to New York without him anyway.

On day three after Thor's arrival, Tony found himself looking at one of the larger transparent screens in the lab with Steve, discussing ways to find a Hydra cell. A few feet away, Bruce and Jane were hunched around the holograms being emitted by one of Tony's StarkPads, looking at spear data, at another of the lab benches. Thor was currently sleeping in the only armchair in the lab, because he'd been on the Hawkeye-watch nightshift.

"Okay, so you got as far as Salzburg," said Tony.

"Yeah, Natasha's contact had information that someone had put plans of the helicarrier up for sale to the highest bidder. It seemed obvious that it was one of Loki's mercenaries. The word was that it was Viper. We tapped every single one of Natasha's contacts and came up with nothing," said Steve.

"What's the Hydra connection?" asked Tony.

"Natasha's contact thought that Viper was working for Hydra, although they didn't know what Hydra was," said Steve.

"That doesn't make any sense," said Tony. "I read up about Hydra. They want to take over the world, not make big bucks."

"Maybe, but they could have been getting some cash for the cause," said Steve. "They used to be funded by Hitler's government black ops chest. That isn't there for them anymore. If this is an attempt to rebuild Hydra, they might need the money."

Tony frowned, and then an idea came to him. "So a former Nazi secret society, bent on world domination, is looking for cash… What's the betting that there are some like-minded people out there with money to donate to the cause. I think I can track that. Or Jarvis can, anyway. SHIELD has a watch list of far-right nutcases with money. All we have to do is look at where the money flows to and see if there are any patterns." He pulled out his phone. "What do you think, Jarvis?"

"The program will take some time to run. We are dealing with international money markets across the world and patterns will take several days to appear." The AI's voice sounded a little tinny when it spoke through the speaker of a cell phone.

"Possible or not, J?"

"Entirely possible, sir. I will you keep you updated on my progress," said Jarvis.

Deputy Director Hill walked into the lab, just as they started to discuss alternative approaches. Tony and Steve immediately stopped what they were doing, but Bruce and Jane hardly even noticed her arrival. Thor continued to snore quietly in his corner.

"Well this is all very cosy," said Hill.

"Deputy Director Hill," said Tony. "To what do we owe this honour? Run out of SHIELD minions to order about?"

"I was looking for Agent Romanoff," said Hill. Tony noted that she also had a small, metal box in her hand.

"She's with Hawkeye," said Steve. "I'll be relieving her in about half an hour."

Hill nodded. "Tell her that I need to see her when she's available."

Tony's eyebrows rose. "I thought you'd be complaining about all the time she's been spending with our archer friend."

"I've read the medical report, Hawkeye sleeps better when one of you is with him," said Hill. "Contrary to what you all seem to think, I only have Agent Barton's best interests at heart."

"But you didn't want him here," said Tony.

"No, because I was afraid that he would either hurt himself, or someone else, and I was right. We're dealing with Asgard and Loki's brother. It was only a matter of time before it triggered a flashback," said Hill. She looked Tony directly in the eyes and it was clear who she was blaming.

Jane and Bruce had stopped their work and were now watching the exchange. The expression on Steve's face had gone from neutral to worried, which would have amused Tony under other circumstances.

"Thanks to all the conditions that you've imposed upon him, he was bored shitless sitting around the Tower. And for some reason, maybe thanks to you and your SHIELD friends, he seems to think that all he's good for is shooting things. He needed this," said Tony.

"Tony, she does have a point," said Bruce. "If we hadn't brought him here then he might have avoided his condition escalating so soon." Tony couldn't believe that Bruce was actually siding with Hill on this. He just gave him a slightly incredulous look. Personally he doubted that the headaches would have stayed as a background problem for long; there was something else going on here.

"But we probably wouldn't have been able to work out how to fix the Bifrost without him," said Jane. "And then Thor wouldn't be here, and you wouldn't be about to sign a treaty with Asgard."

"What's done is done," said Steve. "Going back over decisions that we've already made isn't going to help anyone, and certainly not Clint."

Hill placed the small box that she was carrying on the table beside Bruce and Jane. "Thor's present to us. I thought it might help you work out what's wrong with Agent Barton. We've conducted all the usual analyses and I'll make the data available to you."

Tony frowned. "And now you're helping us."

"Agent Barton is a valuable SHIELD asset," said Hill, folding her arms across her chest. "He also saved my life."

"He saved your life? I'm not at all surprised, but this is a story that I want to hear," said Tony.

"There's not much to tell. You probably read the report last time you hacked our database." Hill looked pointedly at Tony, but he didn't rise to the bait. "He's an expert marksman. I was standing in the loading bay when Loki made his escape. He could have easily shot me before I even knew he was there. He didn't. He waited until Fury warned me, then he missed me entirely as I made for cover." She paused as if she was searching for the right words. "If Hawkeye wants to kill someone, he shoots them first time. He's never shot at anything and missed in his entire time with SHIELD, with the exception of some pretty serious extenuating circumstances."

Steve was frowning. "So Hawkeye _was_ fighting the control. He said as much a few days ago, that night at the bar. I suppose I just didn't pay it enough attention. He didn't seem to think he succeeded much."

"I think he succeeded more than he can remember. I mean look at the way he attacked the helicarrier. He'd know the best way to disable the engine, but he didn't do it," said Tony, looking towards Bruce. "If he'd taken out the turbine shaft, we'd never have got it up and running again. Instead the damage was all something that I could fix in the Iron Man suit. I'm wondering more and more if he knew that. If Hawkeye was in there, subverting everything that Loki asked him to do. Okay, he couldn't keep it up, but he gave us enough that we had a chance," An idea was forming in the back of Tony's mind and he could see that Bruce was there too.

"Maybe that's the problem," said Bruce. "Maybe it's because he fought so hard that he's in pain now when he tries to remember."

"That would be my guess," said Tony.

"But Selvig managed to put in the failsafe, so he fought against the control too," said Steve.

"Okay, so we find out what the difference is between their two situations," said Tony. "SHIELD sent over the brain scans for all the people Loki controlled, right?"

Jane nodded. "Yes, they're here, but none of us are qualified to interpret them. I wouldn't know where to start."

"SHIELD Medical have given me a list of neurologists that might be able to help us," said Bruce. "But of course none of them know anything about alien mind control. I've got interviews lined up with three of them in the next few days and hopefully I can find someone that's willing to help."

"Well, that's a start," said Tony. "I guess for now we have to keep working with the spear and see if we can find out how the thing did what it did."

"It was magic," said Thor, rubbing a hand over his face. A moment ago he'd definitely been asleep.

"Magic is not real," said Tony. "There is a scientific explanation for everything that the spear does. Why doesn't anyone get this?"

"And yet Loki was able to take control of Barton and Selvig by tapping them on the chest with a glowing spear," said Hill. Tony glared at her.

"It didn't work on me though. Probably because he couldn't touch my skin," said Tony. "Which proves that there is a mechanism behind it. I'm pretty sure that magic should work on anyone, even if they have an arc reactor in their chest."

Thor stood and Tony was impressed by how little time it took him to go from asleep to fully awake. "I understand that you are a man of science, Tony Stark, but you have not seen the things that I have seen. There are things in the Nine Realms that even the Dwarves cannot explain, and Loki has made it his business to become a master of those things."

"Clarke's third law: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Your magic is just science in disguise. I guarantee it, even if it's so far beyond our current knowledge that we can't understand it yet," said Tony.

Thor shrugged. "Call it what you will, but the result is the same. Whatever my brother did, it is making our friend ill and it has to end."

Thor looked surprisingly serious and sad, and he spoke with a threatening edge to his tone. Tony knew it wasn't for them, because it was Loki who had done this to Clint. However, Thor was probably blaming himself, as he had been all along, for everything that Loki did. He'd also just had a night of waking Clint from nightmares, most of which currently involved his brother.

Jane was on her feet and heading towards Thor. When she reached him she wound her fingers into his and Thor looked into her eyes. It was enough to make the entire room quiet for a moment.

"We know, Thor," said Bruce. "We're doing everything that we can."

"And I should leave you to it," said Hill. "If you need anything, ask don't hack." She gave the smallest quirk of her lips and walked out of the room.

Steve let out a long breath. "Is it just me or was that a little strange?"

"I think she just wanted to help," said Bruce, sounding a little surprised himself.

Tony's phone beeped and he sighed, holding up the message for the others to see. "Natasha just texted. Legolas is off the happy drugs and looking to escape. Time to initiate Operation Keep Clint Occupied."

* * *

For the first two days or so of his stay in the medical bay Clint didn't really remember a lot. His existence had been fuzzy moments of consciousness between dark, half-remembered dreams. But each time he awoke enough to be aware of his surroundings, there was someone there. Often it was Natasha, but not always. Tony seemed to be there a lot, usually making wisecracks at his expense, but he'd woken up to Steve, Bruce and even Thor sat beside his bed. He didn't know whether to be freaked out by this or touched that apparently they cared enough to take shifts sitting with him.

He remembered all too recently waking tied to a bed in one of the isolation rooms on the helicarrier. It wasn't a pleasant memory, even if Natasha had been there, and he almost always woke up flexing his wrists to check that he wasn't tied down this time. He was sure that Bruce had noticed this, he was observant and intimately acquainted with Clint's issues. If any of the others were aware, then they said nothing.

On day three the pain in his head quietened down, and after about a two second consultation, Aaron stepped down the drugs. The world began to come back into sharper focus. It was then that he realised that he had probably been babbling continuously at Earth's mightiest heroes for the last two days. That just made him want to leave the medical bay as quickly as possible so that he could try to retrieve at least a little of his dignity.

"When can I get out of here?" he asked Aaron, as he raised the head of the bed so that Clint could sit up a little more comfortably.

"If you keep having readings like these, tomorrow," said Aaron.

Clint laid back heavily on his pillows and considered his options. He didn't see any reason to lie here when he could be out doing something. The main obstacles to his departure were the red headed agent sat next to his bed and the flimsy, and also backless, hospital gown that he was wearing. The first of these was far more of a problem than the second in his experience.

"Don't even think about it," said Natasha. "I locked all the air vents, and I've got a twenty-four hour superhero guard roster. That includes a Hulk. You're going nowhere until Aaron gives you the all clear tomorrow."

He looked from Aaron to Natasha. "Honestly, guys, I feel much better. Couldn't I just go back to my room and rest?"

"Not when there's a risk of a relapse," said Aaron. "When you're clear for a full day, then you can walk out of here. Besides, we both know that you wouldn't rest anyway."

"Stark's even got his private jet flying in to pick you up and take you back to New York," added Natasha, texting on her phone while she spoke. He hated it when she did that.

He gave a frustrated groan. "There has to be something that I can do while I'm stuck here."

"You're supposed to be resting," said Aaron. "You've been out of it for two days. Give yourself a little time to get back up to full speed."

Clint just gave him an incredulous look.

"Just try it," said Natasha, pocketing her phone.

"I can always put you back on the drugs," said Aaron, the tiniest gleam in the medic's eyes. "You seemed to be enjoying yourself."

"Hell, no," said Clint, folding his arms over his chest, although he found that the IV line made this a bit difficult.

Aaron scribbled something on his chart and replaced it at the end of the bed. "Okay, but press the call button if the headache comes back. As long as it's not as bad as before, I can give you something that's stronger than what you're on now, but won't have you seeing pink elephants. Promise."

Clint gave him a brief nod and Aaron left him alone with Natasha.

"This is just like Hong Kong," she said.

"This is nothing like Hong Kong," he replied. "I nearly died in Hong Kong."

"Yes, but you insisted on checking yourself out of the hospital before the doctors released you," said Natasha.

"And Paris never happened," said Clint.

"I was fine," said Natasha.

"You pulled your stiches open and I had to patch you up on the plane ride home," replied Clint.

"What about Rio?" she asked, all too innocently.

"Kosovo." Clint remembered that one vividly.

"London," said Natasha. That one he didn't remember much of at all, which was sort of Natasha's point.

"Berlin," he replied. She'd been shot in the leg, not badly but she'd still finished their mission in an ambulance. She'd left the emergency room as soon as they'd stitched her up.

"San Francisco." Really? She was going for San Fran? That was a low blow. He'd been running from some terrorists that he'd pissed off when he left the hospital. She'd saved his life, although he'd never admit that to her, he always maintained that he could have taken them down without his bow or a gun. And a broken arm. They were that incompetent.

"What is this? Are you guys playing some kind of twisted version of Geography?" asked a tired looking Tony Stark from the doorway of Clint's room.

"Missions during which one of us left the hospital against medical advice," said Natasha.

"San Francisco doesn't count," he said, crossly. "There were people trying to kill me."

"Isn't that the opposite of your job description?" asked Tony. "But seriously, it's good to see you awake and aware, Legolas."

"It's good to be both," replied Clint. "Now, if they'd just let me out of here…"

"Yeah, not so fast, hotshot," said Tony. "I've got a few things that need your attention, and don't require you going anywhere. You get to be useful while you lie around."

Clint frowned. He was pretty sure that Tony was up to something. However, he accepted the StarkPad that Tony handed him, and saw that on it was one of the arrow designs that they'd been discussing back in New York. Clint hadn't been able to make this one work. The schematic in front of him had a few amendments to his original design. He looked up at Tony.

"You worked out how to do it?" he asked.

"Yeah, wasn't that difficult. You weren't that far off," said Tony. "I've got a few new ones to run past you though, assuming you like them, I can get Jarvis to put them into production. You can test them out when we get back to New York. Then, we have Iron Man targeting sensor upgrades to go over."

"Okay," said Clint considering the arrow head in front of him. "I think we're going to need to check the weight of this. If it's too heavy, it won't travel far enough to be useful."

He looked up to see a look being exchanged between Tony and Natasha.

"You're here to keep me busy," said Clint, finally understanding what was going on. He looked at Natasha. "Did you text him while you were talking to me?"

Natasha smiled at him. It was her dangerous smile, the one that suggested she already had the upper hand and knew how this was going to end. "If you have to ask then you're clearly still not yourself."

"She just thought you might be happier if you had something to do," said Tony.

"She's not wrong," said Clint, realising that he'd walked into a carefully laid trap, but was now too interested not to examine the schematics. Natasha knew him far too well, and so, apparently, did Tony. He wondered when that had happened.

Natasha got to her feet. "You've got work to do, so I'll leave you to it." She fixed Tony with a look for a moment. "Don't keep him up too late."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mom." He waited for Natasha to leave and then pulled out another StarkPad that he'd had behind his back the entire time. "Also I have the video of Thor trying to work out how the videoconference works. Want to watch that before we start? I laughed a lot."

Natasha would definitely not approve, but right now Clint didn't care. He could do with a laugh, even if it was at the expense of the God of Thunder.

* * *

They flew back to New York in Tony's private jet, which everyone actually seemed to like. Tony enjoyed showing it off to everyone, Clint liked the comfy seats and dim lighting so that he could sleep on the ride home, Natasha liked that Clint wasn't getting Quinjet induced flashbacks, Thor was amused by the idea of flying without using his hammer, Steve was happy that everyone else was happy and Bruce was just glad to be getting back to New York because he had neurologists to meet with.

Aaron had cleared Clint to go home that morning, and of course Clint hadn't wanted to wait any longer than was necessary. Bruce had sat with him through the night, and for once the archer hadn't spent the night waking himself with bad dreams. Bruce was certain that the absence of the heavy duty painkillers meant his brain was getting back to a more even keel. Before they'd arrived in New Mexico, Clint had reported having some nights when he slept more soundly, even if he still found actually getting to sleep to be difficult.

Clint was still tired and Bruce expected him to be so for a few days to come. He was pleased to see him settle down in the plane and drift off after a while. The flight was several hours long, so Clint had time to rest. Bruce was actually somewhat surprised to see that Tony had decided not to fly home in his Iron Man suit. It was currently in suitcase form in the overhead locker. He seemed to actually want to spend time with the team as a group.

The rest of the team members weren't planning to sleep and found themselves with some free time. They couldn't talk about the search for the Hydra cell or the spear data without there being a danger of Clint overhearing. No one particularly wanted to risk either a flashback or a headache at this point, so a consensus had been formed not to discuss their work for the moment.

Tony poured himself a drink, as he glanced at the sleeping archer. Bruce noted that it was his second of the flight.

"So what do you guys normally do for fun?" asked the billionaire.

Bruce wasn't at all sure that he'd done anything just for fun in quite some time. The others looked equally blank.

"On Asgard we feast and drink, tell jokes and sing. There are also board games of strategic skill," said Thor.

"You had me right up to board games," said Tony.

"Are you talking about chess?" asked Bruce. "Or maybe one of the predecessors?"

"It is called Hnefatafl," said Thor.

"I've heard of it," said Bruce.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Tony.

Bruce gave Tony a slightly embarrassed look. "I'm a geek. I like board games. I just haven't had much spare time to sit down and play for a while. Hnefatafl is a Viking game, and thought to be one of the early predecessors of modern chess. The difference is that in Hnefatafl the sides are unequal and one player defends the centre of the board while the other attacks. I'm not sure I can remember the exact rules."

Thor nodded. "I would be happy to teach you how to play, Doctor. If we can find a board and pieces."

"That shouldn't be too hard," said Bruce. "I'll take you up on that offer when we're back in New York. Maybe I should teach you chess in return."

"Oh please, chess is so dull," said Tony. "This jet is stacked with video games and movies just for long flights like this."

"And booze, apparently," said Natasha, eyeing up the substantial liquor cabinet.

"I was actually just going to read my book," said Steve. Bruce could see a paperback book about the Cold War sticking out of Steve's jacket pocket. The super soldier seemed to be spending all of his free time trying to catch up on the decades of history that he'd missed, whilst still keeping up to date on current affairs.

Tony just rolled his eyes at Steve's pronouncement. "Are you people all stuck in the dark ages?"

Bruce couldn't help but laugh at Tony's horror at their less than technological choices. The mood was ruined only seconds later.

"Sir," said Jarvis. "I am detecting several incoming missiles at the furthest range of my scanning ability in this vehicle."

"What?" asked Tony and Steve together, with equal alarm.

"If they continue on their present course and speed then they will hit us in two minutes and eighteen seconds," said Jarvis. Everyone was suddenly alert.

"What is this trickery?" asked Thor, on his feet and hammer at the ready.

"Can't even have a nice quiet ride home," muttered Tony. "Jarvis, tell the pilots to put us into a descent and get us down. Then give me a real-time scan of those missiles." He stood quickly and grabbed his Iron Man suit from the overhead locker.

"Wake Clint," said Steve, and Natasha went to do exactly that.

"How many missiles?" she asked as she headed towards the archer.

"Six," replied Jarvis.

Tony stepped into his suit and it folded shut around him. "Great, who did I piss off now?"

Bruce could hear Natasha's murmured rapid explanation of the situation to Clint as he opened his eyes. The archer regained his lucidity pretty rapidly and was remarkably calm. Bruce was doing his best to stay calm too. He wasn't scared; they'd faced worse than a few missiles, but he was concerned. Pressurized metal containers didn't mix well with stress and the Hulk. He needed to make sure that the Other Guy didn't make an appearance and ruin this for everyone before the missiles had a chance to do it for him.

"Can you destroy those missiles before they hit us?" asked Steve, suddenly taking on his team leader persona.

"If I can't then we're screwed," said Tony, already heading for the plane door. His faceplate snapped shut and the eyes glowed blue. "As soon as I open this, it's going to get pretty windy and cold in here. You'll need oxygen masks and make sure you're properly strapped in. David's a good pilot, he'll get us down on the ground as quickly as he can."

"We'll manage, Tony, I need you to concentrate on taking out the missiles. Thor, can you help him?"

"Yes, you have my lightning as your ally," he said also moving towards the door.

Bruce could feel the plane going steeply downwards now. Tony only employed the best pilots, mostly former Air Force, friends of Colonel James Rhodes.

"Okay, everyone else, strap in," said Steve, making sure that his earwig was well in. Natasha and Clint were doing the same. Bruce felt in his pocket for his own, and popped it in.

"You'd better be ready for this, Point Break," said Tony, after a quick check to make sure that everyone really was strapped in. "Jarvis, blow the hatch seals."

There was the sound of some very small detonations and then Tony was pulling the hatch into the plane. Iron Man disappeared out of the opening, quickly followed by Thor. Air rushed into the cabin, equalising the pressure and sucking any loose debris out of the door as it did so. A glass whipped past Bruce's head, barely missing him. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling, and the four remaining Avengers put them on, just as an alarm started sounding.

There was a thud from outside and Bruce realised that Thor had landed on the wing of the plane, while Tony took off rapidly towards the missiles. Bruce knew that his heart rate was rising, and did his best to slow his breathing. He looked back at the others to see Clint looking directly at him.

"Bruce, we're going to get through this," said Clint. Even over the sound of rushing air and with Clint's voice muffled by the oxygen mask, he could hear him through the com link clearly. Thank goodness for SHIELD tech. "All of us."

Clint was saying it as much for his own benefit as for Bruce's, he could see that in the way his hand was gripping the arm rest tightly. Clint didn't like sitting around waiting for others to save him, and especially not since he'd developed strong control issues. This was clearly torture for him, but Natasha and Steve were now watching Bruce carefully.

"I know. I'm just not so sure the Other Guy does," replied Bruce. He could feel him struggling in the back of his mind, telling him that this was a situation which the Hulk would be better to deal with.

There was the sound of two explosions outside.

"Iron Man, report," said Steve.

"Got two of them. This is not a great time to chat. Someone's controlling these things, they're steering," said Tony. There was another series of loud explosion outside the aircraft. "Thor got another couple. Two left."

"Bruce, just breathe, okay," said Steve. "Tony and Thor are dealing with the missiles and then we'll be on the ground. You too, Clint. We're going to be fine." Apparently Captain America could be pretty perceptive when he needed to be.

Natasha snaked a hand over, against the rushing wind and g-forces of the plane, and rested it on top of Clint's. Bruce just concentrated hard on breathing. There was another explosion to their right, outside the plane.

"Way to go Thor," said Tony, over the com. Then there was a pause. "Uh oh."

The aircraft suddenly banked left, but there was a definite impact. It was followed by the sound of the engine spluttering and Bruce watched it burst into flames as a large piece of metal hit it. It wasn't a missile, more likely debris from Thor zapping the projectile. Again they banked, more sharply this time and they all held on for dear life, shivering in the cold air. One of the overhead lockers flew open and true to his luck, something fell out and gave Bruce a glancing blow to the head. He didn't even see what it was, before the Other Guy decided that he'd had enough, and Bruce was just gone in a haze of green hurt and rage.


	10. Chapter 10

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: This chapter has a Hulk.

Thanks to my reviewers for Chapter 9: Epic timelady TWright, Devin Bourdain, Hawaiichick, Harm Marie, kimbee, Emma PixieLix Duggan, Sandy-wmd, The Nagging Cube, and Ree923. Every single review is cherished.

* * *

"Way to go Thor," said Tony, as the Thunder God hit another missile with a bolt of carefully aimed lightning. Then he realised that the missile had been too close to the plane when it was hit. "Uh oh."

Tony watched helplessly as shrapnel from the missile that Thor had just taken down fell onto the starboard engine, including one large piece that pretty much took out the engine. There was a small explosion and the entire engine caught fire.

The next thing that Tony heard was the roar of an enraged Hulk, followed by a yell of pain from Natasha.

"Steve, are you guys okay?"

His team mates were currently strapped into their seats to stop them from being pulled out of the plane, with an enraged Hulk in close proximity. After New York, they'd all developed a strong feeling that the Hulk wasn't quite as mindless as he seemed, but that didn't mean you wanted to be anywhere near him when he first turned green.

"We'll worry about the Hulk, you worry about that last missile," shouted Steve.

Tony _had_ been worrying about the missile, he was still following it, but it was a tricky son of bitch. He zigged and the damn thing zagged, plus it was headed back towards the plane. He couldn't see where Thor was, he'd been on the wing when the engine had been hit. The Asgardian hadn't put his com in before he'd jumped out of the plane, so he couldn't just shout for him. Suddenly a green blur came flying towards him, or more accurately the missile in front of him.

The Hulk sailed through the air, roaring, and plucked the last remaining missile out of the sky, bending the metal with his grip. Tony could see him twist it around like a pretzel in his hands as he fell, and then the orange red flames of an explosion expanded around him. Of course the Hulk was uninjured, he just kept falling.

"The Hulk just took down the last missile," said Tony, slightly incredulously. He could see that the door to the plane had been deformed by the Hulk pushing through it without much care.

"We saw," said Steve. "Where's Thor?"

Tony scanned the surrounding area of sky. Then he spotted the red cape, flying down towards the Hulk. "He's going after the Hulk."

"Can you track where they're going to land?" asked Hawkeye, which was somewhat unexpected. Tony could still hear the alarm sounding in the background, and he'd had visions of the situation sending Clint into a catatonic shutdown of some kind. The archer was, of course, tougher than that.

"I've got Bruce's com still working," said Tony. "Jarvis, plot where the Hulk's going to hit. Is it near any population centres?"

"No, sir," said Jarvis and flashed up the location on the armour display.

"Okay, he can rage away to his heart's content, and tire himself out. I'm pretty sure that Thor went to keep an eye on him," said Tony.

"We should get a message to SHIELD," said Natasha. "They can send a Quinjet to pick the two of them up."

"Jarvis, take care of that, would you?" said Tony.

"Yes, sir," said Jarvis, efficient as ever.

Tony was now flying around the outside of the plane, trying to get a good look at the engine damage and whether Hulk had done more than just wreck a doorway. His scans seemed to suggest that the plane had enough structural integrity to land. He gave the pilots a wave as he passed the cockpit, and his feed on their radio wavelength burst into life.

"Iron Man, we're limping to Estancia airport on one engine, but the fire suppression systems aren't working. We're still five miles out. It's going to be a rough flight, but we should make it," said the Pilot.

"I'll try to put out the fire," said Tony. "The rest of the plane looks undamaged apart from where the Hulk left his mark. I've scanned the structure and it seems sound enough to take a landing."

Tony flew round and back into the plane. "Just passing through," he said to the extremely cold looking team members that were still strapped into their seats.

He grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher and went back to the engine that was in flames. He positioned himself so that the fire retardant from the extinguisher would be blown back onto the engine and deployed as much as he could directly onto the flames. It seemed to work, as the fire died down and then went out. It remained a smoking mess but there wasn't much to be done about that.

"How long until we're down?" asked Steve.

"I can see the airport. A few minutes," said Tony. "I'll give you an escort in. We've got the fire trucks waiting for us."

Tony remained close to the plane as the pilots successfully put down the landing gear and made one of the best landings that he'd ever seen. It wasn't particularly technically brilliant, but it meant that the rest of his team was now safely on the ground.

"Guys, I owe both of you a raise," he said to the pilots, as he came in for his own landing. "Everyone okay in there?" he asked, swapping back to the Avengers' frequency.

"We're cold, and Natasha needs her arm looked at," said Steve.

"Probably just a deep cut," replied Natasha.

"I think it's broken, Tasha," said Barton's voice. "And it's going to need stitches."

"Okay, emergency services are incoming," said Tony. "Put pressure on it… or something." He saw the escape chute deploy and Steve, Natasha and Clint, exited the plane with varying degrees of grace. Natasha was cradling her arm, and had the face of someone who was clearly trying not to show that she was in pain. The ambulance was screeching towards them with a fire truck behind it.

Tony flicked up his mask and went to join his team.

"Where the hell did those missiles come from?" asked Clint. He was visibly shivering, as was Natasha. It had been pretty cold in the plane. Steve just looked pissed, and took his jacket off to put around Natasha. She looked rather surprised by the gesture and it seemed to amuse Clint.

"Good question," said Tony. "Jarvis will have the tracking data, but I didn't see a plane out there. Someone fired at us from the ground."

"Can we find out where they were fired from on the ground?" asked Steve.

"Too much area to cover," said Clint. "If they're smart, they were gone ten seconds after the missiles were fired."

Natasha nodded. "You don't fire on a plane full of superheroes without an escape plan."

He looked around for the paramedics, who would hopefully also have blankets. The ambulance pulled up beside them, just as the firemen set to work on putting out the smouldering fire in the engine. The paramedics began to swarm around them, and Steve and Tony stepped out of the way to let them get to the people who actually needed help. Tony turned the armour back into suitcase form and stretched.

"So, I guess you're walking home from here then," said Tony, looking at his stricken jet.

"Someone just tried to kill us and you're making jokes," said Steve. His eyes were watching Natasha, sat in the back of the ambulance, having her arm bandaged and splinted for the ride to the nearest hospital. Clint now had a foil blanket wrapped around his shoulders and had stopped shivering. He jumped down from the ambulance step where he'd been sat and wandered over to join Tony and Steve.

Tony gave a half shrug. "Would you rather I cried on your shoulder?"

"I'd prefer to know who it was, why they did it and how. There weren't that many people that knew we were flying back in your jet today. Even we weren't sure until this morning and Clint was cleared to leave the medical bay," said Steve.

"Just gives us a smaller pool to search for the culprit," said Tony.

"Give me a list of the names," said Clint. "I'll find them."

For a second Tony considered letting Clint try. He'd probably be every bit as good an investigator as Romanoff was. Then he realised that there was a very good reason why they'd been attacked. He was sure that it was written across his face, the dawning of realisation. He met Steve's eyes.

"Uh, no. That's a nice offer, Legolas, but you're still not cleared for duty and you're supposed to be resting for a few days. SHIELD can handle it," said Tony.

"Yeah, this was definitely one of the most restful experiences I've had in a while," replied Clint, with extreme sarcasm. "I know when I'm being fed shit, Tony."

Steve gave a sigh. "We weren't going to say anything until we were back at the Tower. Tony and I have been trying to track down a Hydra cell. We think they're operating again."

"You think they shot at us?" asked Clint.

"I'd definitely give it better than even odds," said Tony. "Although I'm not sure how they'd work out that it was us. Then again I've made a lot of enemies over the years, so honestly, it could just be a disgruntled employee from the old weapons division and all of you were collateral damage."

"How did you find out about the Hydra cell?" asked Clint. Damn him for being too sharp for his own good, thought Tony. Luckily Steve had this one.

"One of Natasha's contacts," said Steve. "That's why I was with her when she came back to Puente Antiguo."

Clint frowned, obviously thinking this through and perhaps getting some kind of feeling that something didn't add up. It seemed to pass and he shrugged. "Okay, they're definitely at the top of our list to look into, but right now Natasha needs to get her arm set, so I'm going to ride back to the hospital with her. SHIELD will arrange transport for us back to the Tower. You're welcome to tag along, Steve."

Steve nodded. "Okay, we'll meet up back at the Tower. Hopefully Bruce and Thor will have made it home by then too."

* * *

Thor watched the Hulk land in an empty area of dry, scrub ground. He followed him down, but landed several feet away from him. The monster looked around and lumbered about for a moment. There was nothing in this area, it was just a patch of sandy desert with some straggly looking bushes and dry grass. There was nothing, apart from Thor, for him to hit. Thor got a better grip on Mjolnir, just in case the beast decided to go for him.

The Hulk turned around and saw Thor. He didn't run towards him, he just looked at him. "Hulk save Metal Man. Hulk do good?" he grunted.

"Yes," said Thor. "Yes, and you saved the others."

"Hulk try not hurt little people in tin can. Hulk leave. Too small for Hulk."

"I'm sure they were safe. Iron Man will make sure that they get down safely." Thor moved warily a little closer to the Hulk. "All is well, it is time to let Banner return."

The Hulk sat down on the ground, heavily. He gave a slow nod of his head as if he was tired, and suddenly he was shrinking. Thor had never witnessed the transformation from Hulk back to Banner before, and he found it somewhat amazing. However, he was left with a semi-naked Physicist, who slumped sideways as soon as the transformation was complete.

"Doctor Banner?" asked Thor, crouching on one knee on the ground beside him.

The man moved weakly, and blinked at the bright light with a groan. Thor reached around and removed his red cape. He draped it over the physicist.

"Bruce, you should call me Bruce," said the Doctor. He pushed himself back into a sitting position with his knees drawn up to his chest. "And, uh, thanks." He pulled the cape around himself, it was easily big enough to go around his shoulders and cover his knees and legs.

"You are most welcome," said Thor. "Unfortunately I have no idea where we are, or how far the nearest settlement is."

"Tony probably tracked us. He'll send SHIELD out to get us," said Bruce. "What happened? I'm pretty sure that I was sitting in a plane before the Other Guy made an appearance."

"You saved the lives of everyone on board the plane by leaping upon the last of the missiles that had been launched against us," said Thor. "However, I do not know why your other self became unleashed."

"Something in the plane hit me. The Hulk was already pretty close to the surface, it didn't take much to push it over," said Bruce. "I hope everyone's okay."

"As do I," said Thor. "The attack was unexpected."

Bruce shrugged. "Bad guys are trying to kill us. It must be Tuesday."

"It is Wednesday," said Thor, with confusion.

Bruce looked at him for a moment, and then shook his head. "It's a saying… never mind."

"I cannot respect an enemy that does not show themself," said Thor, standing and beginning to pace.

"You've got to wonder why they decided to attack the plane," said Bruce. "I mean, it's a plane full of superheroes."

"Perhaps they thought that the element of surprise would be enough," said Thor. "They were truly mistaken if that is what they believed."

"Any bets on who it was?" asked Bruce. "I've got the Army after me, but I think SHIELD dealt with that."

"My enemies are in other realms," said Thor. "At least as far as I am aware."

"I don't think they're the kind of enemies who attack planes with missiles either," said Bruce.

"Not ones of this kind," Thor confirmed. Frost Giants could throw things quite far however.

"Tony has annoyed a lot of people," said Bruce, "And I expect Clint and Natasha have their fair share of people who'd like them dead."

"I hear engines," said Thor. He had just caught the distant thrum of an aeroplane in the distance.

Bruce wrapped the cloak around himself a little more tightly and got to his feet with a slight wobble. Thor put out a hand to stop him from falling without even thinking about it.

The shape of an approaching Quinjet came over the horizon, and Thor waved at it with Mjolnir.

"It appears that our transport has arrived," said Thor, as the jet came in to land.

Standing in the back was Agent Quartermaine, with a set of clothes for Bruce in his hands. Thor was impressed, but was now looking forwards to a quiet ride back to New York with the Doctor. He could have flown back on his own now that his team mate was safely in the hands of SHIELD, but in all good conscience he couldn't leave at this point. He now considered it his duty to see Bruce safely back to his home, and so he would travel this last leg with him too.

Once Bruce had changed into some less damaged clothes, they spent the rest of the flight catching up with what had happened to the rest of the team. Which was when Bruce found out that Natasha had been injured. Thor continued to discuss things with the rest of the team over the radio, but Bruce's mood changed rapidly. He sat sullenly, looking through the cockpit and would barely more than grunt in reply to any questions that he was asked. Try as he might, Thor just wasn't capable of lightening his spirits and so it remained until they reached the Tower.

Tony greeted Thor with great enthusiasm, telling him of the many amenities within the Tower. It was whilst the Man of Iron was doing this that Bruce simply disappeared quietly to another one of the many rooms that Avengers Tower possessed. Thor decided to allow Bruce his time to brood. At least until a suitable opportunity presented itself to discuss what was burdening him so.

* * *

Tony was desperate to show off the finished upgrades to the Tower as soon as everyone was back in New York, despite Steve telling him that looking for whomever it was that had tried to kill them was more important. Natasha had her left arm in a plaster cast and sling, because Clint had been correct, it was broken. It had been hit by a piece of debris from Bruce's chair that had been destroyed by the transformation. Everyone else had, somewhat miraculously, come out of the incident on the plane unscathed. Although Bruce was still hiding in his lab and everyone had decided to give him a little space. Tony was clearly getting impatient with that approach, however, so it probably wouldn't be long before Bruce had a visit from the billionaire.

In any case, Tony wasn't about to let his plans be ruined by Bruce's bad mood or Steve's insistence that they should immediately resume their search for the Hydra cell. Steve knew that this was the moment that Tony had been living for, probably for weeks. Tony wanted to see each Avenger's face light up as he showed them their specially created living spaces. He supposed they could spare a few hours before they went back to work.

One of the things that Steve had noticed about Tony was that he was lousy at gift giving. He just didn't know how to do it, or how to accept the thanks he got. He'd watched Tony give Pepper a ridiculously expensive, designer watch one night after dinner. He'd sort of shoved the store wrapped box at her with a rapid "got you something". Pepper had loved it and Tony had picked well because it was just Pepper's style. Tony had then shooed away all her thanks, been stiff when she hugged him, and although he smiled when she did, he'd then practically run to his lab for the evening.

Pepper took it all in good grace. She clearly knew Tony well and loved him a lot, which made it even stranger that something had happened between them. Steve wished that Tony would talk to them about it.

Tony actually very rarely gave people simple gifts, he preferred to go for grand gestures, with pretty much everyone except Pepper. For example, the day after Clint had moved in, Tony realised that the only clothes Clint had in the entire world were contained in the bag that he'd brought with him. So, he'd got twenty t-shirts of various styles, and twenty pairs of pants (all in Clint's size) sent over from one of the big department stores. Clint, equally as bad at receiving gifts as Tony was at giving them, had totally freaked out. Things like "I'm not a charity case" and "I haven't let anyone dress me since I was three" were said, but with more swear words, and everything was sent back. As a compromise, Pepper took Clint shopping with Tony in tow, grumbling the entire way.

Tony really wanted people to like him, despite how he appeared on the exterior. Steve suspected that he thought all this new apartment stuff and the grand gestures, like Clint's clothes, would cement his nascent friendships with the other Avengers. Steve knew he didn't need any of that. He'd already won over Bruce, Clint and himself when he'd offered them a home, because none of them had had that for a long time.

Analysis aside, Steve knew Tony had worked hard with Pepper on the apartments, so he was quite prepared to be wowed. Tony assembled them all on the floor below the Penthouse and Labs, which was to be Natasha and Clint's space. There were three doors from the elevator lobby, one was the usual variety of Avengers Tower glass door and led to the shooting range, the second was painted in black with a red stylised hourglass on the door, and the third was also black, but had a depiction of a bow and arrow in purple on it.

"Nice, Tony," said Clint, with a touch of wryness to his voice.

Tony smirked. "Who wants to go first?" asked Tony looking between Clint and Natasha.

Natasha gave a shrug. "You were here first, Clint."

"Okay, lead on," said Clint.

Tony indicated the small thumb print activated lock by the door to Clint's apartment. "You're the only one who can unlock the door, Clint. It's the same with the other apartments. Only the owner can open the door, and by the way, these apartments are yours. Your names are on the deeds."

"I don't think I've ever owned property," said Clint.

"Well, you are going to love this. Put your thumb on the pad, Jarvis won't let me in unless it's an emergency," said Tony.

Clint pressed his thumb to the pad and the door opened inwards to reveal a small hall that lead on to a cosy looking living area. It was decorated in chocolate browns and creams, with sensitive accents of deep purple. The purple couch in particular looked comfortable for stretching out on. There was also the largest TV that Steve had ever seen taking up one wall. The windows along one entire side of the room stretched from ceiling to floor, giving an amazing view of New York.

"Lounge, with all mod cons," said Stark. "You like your films, so you've got a state of the art home cinema system with surround sound, and access to the entire Tower library of films. Jarvis automatically downloads the top rated new releases as soon as they're made available, but ask if you want anything else. It's sound proofed so it won't disturb Natasha next door."

"How did you know that purple was my favourite colour?" he asked, surprise evident in his voice.

"Jarvis. He's been taking note when you've had a choice of colours, although you quite like red too. Purple just seemed to work better with the décor. Pepper's choice, by the way. If you hate it you can change it, because it's yours now," said Tony.

Steve watched as Clint wandered around the room and noticed some of the smaller touches. Of course everything was automated, from the lights to the doors. On the walls were framed prints of mounted archers of Asian descent, they looked very old and, knowing Tony, they probably were. The cushions on the sofa were covered in a fabric that had a pattern entirely made up of bows and arrows. The curtains on all the windows were the same fabric.

A stylish wall shelf held a number of books, some were archery related, others looked like maths or film books, plus a few spy thrillers thrown in for good measure. Clint fingered three books with particular reverence as he passed the shelf. The titles were: "Toxophilus", "Art of Archerie" and "The Archer's Craft". He picked each one up carefully and then replaced it.

"Where did you find a copy of this?" he asked, as he opened the final one and looked at the inside page.

"I've got some friends in the book collector's market. My mother used to collect first editions," said Tony.

Then Clint reached the final wall, which had what looked to be an antique bow mounted on it. A small brass plaque under the bow said "Chinese, 17th Century, Recurve Bow". It had subtle markings and inlays down its length. Clint just gawped at it, and Steve thought he might actually have lost the power of speech for a moment. He looked back at Tony, who was grinning.

"Tony…" began Clint.

"Don't say a word, Legolas. It's not often that you're lost for words and I'd like to enjoy it. Besides, I thought you'd prefer the one in the bedroom," said the billionaire. Clint practically ran in the direction that Tony indicated.

The others followed Clint into his opulent bedroom, which had possibly the largest bed in it that Steve had ever seen. They found Clint gently lifting down the bow that was on the wall above the bed. This one was clearly much newer and looked more like Clint's current bow, although it seemed to have been damaged. There was a large v-shaped chip in the arc of the curve.

"I thought they must have thrown this out," said Clint, examining its every centimetre.

"You know SHIELD, they never throw anything away," said Tony.

"What's the significance of the bow?" asked Steve.

"It was the first bow that SHIELD R&D made for one Junior Agent Clint Barton. The specs for the design they came up with were written by Agent Coulson," said Tony, with a fair amount of pride and Steve reckoned he deserved it.

"Everything that's special about my bow, came from this first one. How did you find it? How did you even know?" asked Clint, simple amazement in his eyes.

"Read your file," said Tony. "I sort of guessed that it existed, since I figured that your current love was not your first when we looked at improving it. I thought it had probably been destroyed, but it seemed worth looking into. It was just a matter of pulling in a few favours with SHIELD R&D, and those guys do owe me a few."

"How did it get damaged?" asked Steve, looking at the chunk that had been taken out of the bow.

"A guy came at me with a samurai sword and I used the bow to block. It took a chunk out of it, and once that had happened, I couldn't use it anymore. It weakened the structure and this composite can't really be mended. R&D took it away for analysis and made me a new one out of something stronger." Clint was still looking at it. "It saved my life."

Tony practically had to drag Clint away from it to show him the special rack for his arrows, bow and guns, then the long spiral staircase that led straight to the roof, the private door into the firing range that was on the same floor, the marble covered bathroom, the bar, the coffee machine, and the kitchen. There was even a dart board, although Steve would have been loath to throw darts at it with the freshly painted walls behind it.

Clint was clearly somewhat overwhelmed, but Tony moved on to Natasha's room, dragging the entire party across the hall. Her room was equally beautifully decorated in creams and golds, but with illuminated Latin manuscripts adorning the walls, and accent walls in burgundy. It was more feminine, whilst not being too fussy. Her cushions and curtains featured material printed with what were unmistakeably, Black Widow Russian dolls. The actual set was arranged on the table and this seemed to amuse her. However, Natasha was particularly taken by the modern artwork that had been chosen for the bedroom.

"Is that the original…?" she asked after examining the canvas for a moment.

"Do you think I'd have anything else?" replied Tony. He was rewarded with a smile. "It was Pepper's hard work hunting it down, with a little help from me."

"Was that the one that we returned to its rightful owner after we found it in a drug lord's mansion?" asked Clint.

Natasha nodded. "I always said that I liked it."

"Its return made the papers, and I thought that even if you hated it, you might like the reminder of a job well done," said Tony. "Anyway, it's yours now. The owner was kind of proud to give it to an Avenger."

Natasha also had a large, custom built, armoury, with specially made firearms storage cupboards, easily big enough for all her weapons, and a number of the same facilities as Clint had, although not the staircase to the roof. Her reactions had been more muted even than Clint's but it was clear that she still approved.

The party moved down a floor to Thor and Captain America's level. There were also three doors on this level. The first door was painted in red, white and blue stars and stripes, with an outline in black of Captain America's shield, and the second was silver with a stylized Mjolnir painted on it. Steve rolled his eyes, but Thor just laughed. The third door led to the specially designed Avengers gym.

Steve's room drew heavily on Forties décor, but the greens and beiges made him feel at home. The book shelves were populated with history books, from tomes by worthy academics to lighter, more populist reading. Tony had found newspaper articles on Captain America's missions and framed them to put on the walls. However, for Steve, the big surprise was the half-finished prototype of his own shield that sat on a special shelf in the bedroom.

"Yeah, it was lying around my workshop in Malibu. Dad had kept it with a bunch of other stuff," said Tony, brushing off Steve's thanks and surprise. "I used it to prop up my particle accelerator."

"You used it…?" asked Steve, not sure what a particle accelerator even was, but propping up stuff with a piece of history sounded somewhat sacrilegious. However, it also sounded a lot like something that Tony would do.

"It's yours now, Cap," said Tony.

Then Tony showed him the art studio and Steve instantly fell in love with the apartment. In the other apartments the bedroom was in the corner of the Tower, and had windows on two sides. In Steve's apartment that was where his art studio was, and the light was just perfect. The view was even better.

Across the corridor, Thor's apartment was doing its best to be a little bit of Asgard on Earth, but carefully fused with modern technology. Tony had been asking Thor questions about Asgard ever since he'd returned from there and now Steve understood why. The room had fur rugs on wooden floors, unlike the deep pile carpets in the other apartments. There was a distinctly medieval appearance to the wooden tables, and a fire place with what appeared to be a fire burning in it. Tony reassured everyone that the furs and fire were not real, but the leather on the sofa was. He'd also found books on Norse mythology and material covered in Norse runes for the cushion covers.

In the centre of the table in the living room was a board game, unmistakeably it was the one which Thor had been talking about on the plane.

Thor was overwhelmed with emotion when he saw it. "I am not sure at what point you arranged for this to be here," he said. "But I am touched."

"I wanted to get you something special, like Clint's bow, Natasha's painting and Steve's shield, but everything that's important to you is back in Asgard, so this was the best I could do," said Tony.

"Not everything of importance to me is in Asgard," said Thor.

Tony nodded. "Pepper said the same thing, so she added something in the bedroom."

When Thor went to look, he found a picture of Jane Foster, about the size of a paperback book, framed in silver and placed on his bedside table. The hitch in his breathing was unmistakable but quickly hidden.

"I must thank the Lady Pepper," he said, his voice much quieter that his usual booming tones.

That left one apartment to explore but its owner had still yet to make an appearance. The final floor held Bruce's room and the Labs. His door was painted green. It was somewhat inevitable. On the door was a stylised lowercase Greek letter Gamma. It looked rather like a slightly more curvy letter "y" to Steve, but he'd never had a classical education.

"I guess we'll have to wait for another day to give you the tour of Bruce's room," said Tony, clearly a little disappointed. "Anyway, let's head back up to the Common Room and I'll give you a rundown of the other facilities and security stuff."

They got in the elevator and headed upstairs, the good mood a little spoilt by their missing team member.


	11. Chapter 11

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: I made you wait for this one, but it is a longish one. In this chapter the Avengers eat pizza, Clint traps Pepper in a lift, and Natasha gives Clint a hug. Next chapter there will be more action, I promise.

* * *

Natasha reflected that Tony's Penthouse was properly huge. It actually had two lounges, one that very rarely got used, and the larger open space at the top of the Tower that had needed to have a Loki sized hole in the floor repaired recently. Tony had handed over the lower lounge for use by the Avengers as a regular meeting space and somewhere for them to get together for socialising. It had a bar and various other facilities, including another giant TV and some exceedingly comfortable looking sofas. It had been designed as somewhere to relax and Tony had started referring to it as the Common Room.

There was a meeting room to one side behind a wall of glass panels, shielded from every known form of spying, digital and analogue, and which had teleconferencing equipment, encrypted to SHIELD frequencies. There were also built in holographic displays, and it was these that Tony used to give everyone an overview of the other facilities that were now complete.

They had already seen the apartments, gym and range. There was also a medical bay, large enough for all the Avengers to be comfortably quarantined should the need ever arise (they all hoped that it never did) or treated for any injuries. Tony had a doctor on call for anything that Bruce couldn't handle. There was also Tony's own Iron Man armoury where his spare and prototype suits were kept. At Bruce's request, Tony had built a Hulk proof room for him in the basement, although he'd also made Bruce's quarters as Hulk proof as they could be without being too heavy for the building.

The Tower had its own defence systems which could be activated or deactivated by saying a passcode, or at Jarvis's discretion if the humans were incapacitated. Tony got them all to memorise the code, should the need arise. Clint had apparently had a hand in the security systems and Natasha wasn't at all surprised, they were efficient and sensible.

It was all pretty good stuff, and Natasha appreciated that Stark was taking things seriously. However, by the end of the talking, all Natasha really wanted was to go and curl up in the huge bed in her apartment. She hated taking painkillers, almost more than Clint did and her arm was aching fiercely. She had already cursed her bad luck at the piece of chair colliding with her, but there was nothing much she could do about it.

Tony wanted everyone to break for pizza and drinks but Steve seemed desperate to turn the conversation back to who might have been responsible for attacking their plane.

"We have to put all our resources into tracking that Hydra cell," said Steve.

"We are," said Tony. "Jarvis is still running the trace program and that will tell us where to look. Until then, I am not having this conversation."

"There have to be other places that we can start looking," said Steve.

"SHIELD gave me the list of personnel who knew that Tony's private jet was taking us back to New York and when. It wasn't a high clearance level, so it's a long list and we have to include air and ground crew," said Natasha. "I'll look into all of them but it's going to take a while."

"Do we know for certain that it was this Hydra?" asked Thor.

"No, but we haven't pissed off anyone else lately. Unless there's something else you want to tell me," said Clint, looking directly at Steve.

Clint was clearly tired, which didn't surprise Natasha at all because he'd been sick and then in what amounted to a plane crash. He was also definitely hungry, because she could see him getting more and more irritable and that was always a sign of low blood sugar levels.

Steve looked at Natasha. "It's got to be Hydra. Maybe this was personal. Maybe they were after me."

Natasha shook her head. "Then they'd have tried to kill you in Salzburg when it was just the two of us. I've put feelers out to all my contacts, and so has SHIELD. If anything comes up, we'll know about it."

Finally Clint broke and stood up. "I'm ordering pizza."

"At last, someone talking sense," said Tony. "I second the motion."

Steve gave in and the meeting broke up. Natasha gave Clint her pizza order and then excused herself, stating SHIELD business and to call her when the pizza arrived. Then she slipped downstairs to the labs, and cautiously knocked on Bruce's door. The Doctor had a large array of journals out on a bench in front of him, and was studiously making notes in a hardback notebook, with his glasses perched on his nose.

He looked up to see who it was, and then quickly down at his notes. "So you drew the short straw? I'm surprised."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "We didn't draw straws. They're ordering pizza and I thought you might want to join in."

"I don't think I'm particularly fit for human company right now, if ever," replied Bruce, not even looking up this time.

"You've been fit," said Natasha. "Up until today."

"Until today I hadn't injured a team mate," said Bruce, with a flick of his eyes to Natasha's cast.

"No, you'd just saved our lives," said Natasha, taking a seat on the other side of the lab bench.

Bruce put down his pencil. "Every time I save a life I put more in danger. I keep hoping that maybe I can at least point the Hulk in the direction he needs to go, aim him like a weapon, but he's not a gun that you can fire and forget. He's an unpredictable, unstoppable force. And you got hurt by me, again."

Natasha shrugged. "The Hulk just gave me a love tap on the helicarrier. He didn't even break a single bone, and this time it was the chair that hit me, not the Hulk."

"The chair?" asked Bruce, a little perplexed.

"When the Hulk transformed, the seat that you'd been sitting in couldn't take the strain. It broke. That left a few pieces of loose metal flying around, and one of them hit my arm," she said.

"It was still my fault," said Bruce.

Natasha shook her head. "I suppose technically, but I don't remember you saying that you intended to turn into the Hulk. And even when you did transform, the Hulk took one look at us and decided to leave the plane. He knew that if he stayed we'd be in trouble I think. Then he took down that missile, so all in all, I'd say you're ahead on the ratio of lives saved to injuries sustained."

"You'd say that, would you?" said Bruce, only halfway to believing it.

"Yes, if you need my forgiveness then you have it, but I don't think that there is really anything for me to forgive. Put away your work and come upstairs. I know you love pizza just as much as Tony and Clint, and honestly, we've all missed you while you've been sequestered down here," said Natasha.

"Really?" said Bruce, in a tone that made it clear that he thought Natasha was being untruthful.

"Yes, really, and Tony's desperate to see your face when he shows you your new apartment. You wouldn't want to disappoint him?"

"I think I already have," said Bruce.

Natasha just gave him a disbelieving look. "Honestly, Tony sees you as a friend and colleague. Turning into the Hulk when we're under attack is just going to make him think more of you."

Bruce smiled just a little. "I suppose this is Tony we're talking about."

Natasha returned the smile with one of her own. Bruce closed his notebook with a sigh.

"Fine, I guess I am hungry," said Bruce.

"Come on, Doc," said Natasha. She led him out of the lab, into the elevator and up to the Common Room. Of course the greeting that he got from the other Avengers was plenty good enough to prove that Natasha hadn't been lying when she'd said that he'd been missed. Clint had even ordered extra pizza in case Bruce made a late appearance or just wanted a snack later.

"So, who wants to sign my cast?" Natasha asked, as they all sat demolishing pizza. Clint was already reaching for the marker pen, but she offered it first to Bruce. He simply gave a shrug.

"Sure, but let's none of us make a habit out of broken bones," he said, and signed his name.

"I'll drink to that," said Tony and Thor together.

The two of them looked at each other with slight horror and then laughed. Tony filled the wine glasses with champagne. Clint subtly took the bottle from him before he could get to the last glass, and filled his own. Tony just ignored this slightly strange behaviour, he was seemingly used to Clint wanting to do everything for himself by now.

"If all Midgardian feasts are like this, then I am sorry that I have not had the opportunity to experience one until now," said Thor.

"This is just post-near-death-experience pizza," said Tony, grabbing the marker pen and signing his name at three times the size of Bruce's on Natasha's arm.

"New tradition in the making," said Clint, with a grin. He playfully snatched the pen from Tony's hand.

Then Pepper stepped out of the elevator and into the room.

* * *

Pepper wasn't supposed to even be in New York. She had meetings in the California office all this week. Tony knew this because he'd asked Jarvis to check her calendar. He just wasn't ready to face her at the moment; it had only been a week since their argument. He quickly masked his surprise, dropped the piece of pizza that he'd been about to start on and headed over to greet her. He pinned a smile to his face.

"Pepper!" he said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. "I thought you were in LA."

She didn't look at all impressed. "I heard about the plane. It was all over the news that your private plane had engine failure and I was worried. I got on the next flight to New York. I've been trying to call you all afternoon. You haven't answered."

Tony's face fell. He'd always thought that was a strange expression, but he was actually thinking that it might refer to the fact that his heart felt like it had just fallen into his stomach.

"I may, uh, have asked Jarvis not to accept any calls from you," said Tony, awkwardly. He could see the anger in Pepper's eyes and the moment that it turned into hurt. "It was just until we'd finished in New Mexico…"

She turned around and headed straight for the elevator. "I should have known," she said crossly over her shoulder.

"Pepper, wait…" said Tony.

"I'll be upstairs, collecting my things," said Pepper, stepping back into the elevator.

"Pepper, please," said Tony, but the doors were closing and she was gone.

Tony stood looking at the doors for a moment. He had no idea what he was going to do. The idea of being without Pepper truly didn't appeal to him, she was like an extension of his self these days. He cared deeply for her, but he was used to his relationships ending badly. He shook his head and turned towards his usual solution in these situations, the bar.

"Tony," said Natasha. "You're not going to let her just leave, are you?"

"Yes, I am, because that's what she wants," said Tony.

Steve had stood and was heading towards the bar too. In fact, he was standing in his way.

"Go after her, Tony," said Steve.

"Get out of my way, Steve," said Tony.

"Jarvis, stop the elevator that Ms Potts is in, please," said Clint. "Tell her there's been a problem with the arc reactor and Mr Stark is fixing it."

"Yes, Agent Barton."

Tony's eyes went wide. "Just what is that going to accomplish other than to make her more annoyed?"

"You are going to take the stairs and meet her at the top, after you've told Jarvis what to order for the two of you for dinner. By then she'll either have calmed down or be so hungry that she'll stay to eat anyway," said Clint. "Which should give you some time to talk things through."

"That might actually work," said Natasha. "Well it can't make it any worse. Come on, I'll help you."

"When did you become my relationship counsellors?" asked Tony.

"We're just trying to persuade you not to give up on things with Pepper," said Bruce. "Personally, I really don't have the aptitude for that kind of work."

"I do not understand. What is going on here?" asked Thor.

"Pepper's trying to leave Tony," said Clint.

"Then should we not let her?" asked Thor.

Five people said "no!" in unison, which surprised Tony because he was one of them, and also that the others cared. He frowned, a little confused. Natasha took this opportunity to steer him towards the stairs, and then start quizzing him and Jarvis on what Pepper's favourite food was. She also got Clint to tag along on their little expedition too. Tony was too dumbstruck to contribute much until they actually reached the Penthouse floor, by which point Natasha had ordered Pepper's favourite meal from her favourite bistro.

"You know this is all about the Avengers?" said Tony. "She thinks I'm working too hard on Iron Man tech, drinking too much and generally spending too much time being an Avenger."

"You are," said Natasha, pushing open the door to the Penthouse. She headed for the kitchen, and where the table linen was kept and got out a white table cloth to spread over the kitchen table. Then she gave Clint the cutlery and got him to lay the table, while she found glasses. Tony wondered firstly how she knew where the cutlery was, then why the two world's greatest assassins were helping him with planning a meal for his girlfriend. This was just plain weird, whilst also being totally normal for his bizarre new life since aliens invaded.

Hang on… "What do you mean, I am?" asked Tony.

"You spend a lot of time in your lab, Tony," said Clint, as he placed silverware on the table. "Have you actually slept in the same bed as Pepper since she got back to New York after the battle? I mean for an entire night?"

"That," said Tony, pointing a finger at Clint, "that is none of your business. But it may have been a while."

"So, all you've really been doing together is the Tower upgrades," said Clint.

"I, er, gave her this really nice watch…" said Tony, it sounded a bit lame even to him. He knew Pepper well enough to know that she'd prefer him to actually spend time with her.

Clint just looked at him, whilst Natasha tutted. Tony decided to go and get a bottle of wine before they found more flaws in his relationship with Pepper to poke at.

"Food's here," shouted Steve. The super soldier brought in some delicious smelling, carefully wrapped packages from a local bistro. Tony marvelled at this for a moment. Captain America had just delivered his and Pepper's dinner, and this was a normal day for him.

"Come on, let's get this on the table and then get out of here," said Natasha. "Pepper's been stuck in that lift for long enough."

After that everything happened pretty quickly. Natasha, Clint and Steve got everything ready and then practically ran from the room, heading back to the Common Room to rejoin Thor and Bruce, and finish the pizza that they'd ordered. Tony found himself alone.

He stood in front of the elevator doors, more than a little apprehensive.

"Jarvis, get the elevator moving again," he said.

"Yes, sir," replied Jarvis.

Less than a minute later the elevator had reached his floor and the doors opened to reveal a slightly dishevelled and a rather annoyed looking Pepper.

"I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, Tony Stark, but since when does the arc reactor malfunction…"

Tony just stood back so that Pepper could see the table, with its candles now lit. "Pepper, I'm sorry I haven't been here, and I'm sorry about the way that I handled our argument, and most of all I'm really sorry for hurting you. You mean the world to me. Please, would you have dinner with me?"

Pepper's face had gone from angry, to amazed, to something else that he couldn't identify. She looked him in the eyes, walked the five steps that she need to and hugged him fiercely. Tony reciprocated and tears filled his eyes, because he'd come very close to sabotaging one of the best things that had ever happened to him. For a few moments they just stood there like that, hugging the life out of each other. Then once they'd recovered, Tony showed Pepper to the table, whilst pretending that he wasn't rubbing tears out of his eyes, and poured his girlfriend a glass of wine.

"You know that's all I really wanted you to do. I just wanted you to acknowledge that things weren't right," she said, as they talked. "I love you."

"I love you too, honey, but we've got to find some sort of balance. I can't walk out on being Iron Man or the Avengers. They need me, and if tonight's anything to go by, I think I might actually need them just as much," said Tony. He'd already owned up to having some help with dinner, because Pepper had sort of guessed as soon as she'd seen it that the others had given him a hand.

Pepper rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised that you've only just worked that out. This Tower project has been your way of saying thank you to them for watching your back all along, whilst keeping you nicely distracted from processing everything that you went through. You're so focussed on them that you're not paying any attention to yourself."

Tony shrugged. "Maybe not, but I'm not a man out of time, a victim of alien mind control, a man with serious anger management issues, a Norse god with an evil brother, or an assassin dripping with the blood of my enemies. I may actually be the most normal one in the entire bunch, which is a statement that is so frightening that I should just get fliers printed and send them to the bad guys. SHIELD's prisons would be filled by the end of the month with scared super villains."

Pepper gave him an indulgent smile.

"Okay," she said, "I get it. I really do. You need to save the world sometimes, it's who you are. So baby steps. I want one night a week that is just for us, date night if you like, and we eat together and sleep in the same bed all night. Assuming that we're both in the same town, and there aren't any global catastrophes needing either Iron Man's attention or the CEO of Stark Industries."

Tony nodded. "I can live with that, and I'll do my best with the other nights to at least put in an appearance at meal times."

Pepper smiled and nodded, but then looked more serious again. "And there's something else. I want you to give up all alcohol for a month."

Tony stopped with his wine glass half way to his lips. "I'm not an alcoholic, Pepper."

"I know," said Pepper. "And I don't want you to become one. Come on, it'll be good for you if nothing else. Prove to me that you can do it, starting from tomorrow."

"Well then, I'd best make the most of this wine," he said. "I'd have opened a more exciting bottle if I'd known."

"Thank you," said Pepper, and reached across the table to give his hand a squeeze.

Then the conversation moved on to how much everyone had liked their new apartments, and it was just like the last week had never happened. Certainly when things moved to the bedroom, Tony was at great pains to show Pepper just how much she meant to him and how much she had been missed.

* * *

Life in the Tower settled into something of a rhythm over the next few days. Pepper was once more a part of life in Avengers Tower and everyone was pleased to have her back. Winter closed in around New York, and the winds became bitter and cold, but, finally, everyone was living in the Tower and Tony felt that he'd achieved something. Avengers Tower was feeling lived in and more like a home than it had in months.

Of course it wasn't all smooth sailing. They still had to find whoever had tried to shoot them down, and Clint was still noticeably not himself. The other five quickly got used to making a few small allowances for Clint's slightly unusual behaviour at times, but there were some things that served as a reminder that Clint's condition was serious.

Firstly, Clint very rarely slept in his apartment, despite his clear love for it during the day. Tony had provided the archer with the very best bed that money could buy, but he preferred to sleep wherever there were other people. That was usually in the Common Room, because it was rare that he was without company there. None of the team kept normal hours, so Tony would be up late working in his lab (except on the newly instated date night) and popping up for coffee occasionally, Bruce went to bed earlier than Tony but it was still midnight before he usually hit the sack, and Steve just didn't seem to need much sleep. Natasha was an early riser and Thor kept whatever hours he felt like and suited him at the time. There was almost always traffic through the Common Room, in fact, they began to make sure of it. Clint didn't sleep well there, but at least he slept.

However, when the Common Room did empty, he'd taken to falling asleep in Tony's lab if the billionaire was working there, or Bruce's workspace further down the corridor if the doctor was working late. This usually meant him sitting on a chair with his head pillowed on his arms on a lab bench, and both Bruce and Tony had done that enough times to know how uncomfortable it was. Clint definitely liked the ballistics and explosives projects that Tony often had running and would ostensibly come to see what the scientists were working on, but he always ended up asleep on a bench.

This had now happened a couple of times, so Tony had got Jarvis to order foldaway beds for the two main labs that he and Bruce worked in. Then Tony waited for Clint to turn up that night.

As usual Clint hovered at the open door for a moment before he decided which cover story he was going to go with tonight.

"Your new bow is over there, if you want to take a look," said Tony, taking pity on him, but not looking up from the piece of armour that he was working on. He waved in the general direction of the bow and, coincidentally, the newly installed bed in the corner of the lab. Anyone who knew Tony, knew that he didn't do subtle.

"Is it finished?" asked Clint, as he ambled across the room.

"Almost," replied Tony. "I've just got to finish up the electronics and then you can take it for a test drive."

Clint approached the table where the bow was laid out and then he saw the bed.

"Have you started sleeping down here?" he asked, as he moved around to get a better look at the bow's curve. It was a thing of beauty, even if Tony did say so himself.

Tony tried to reply as casually as he could manage. "Well that was the plan, but then Pepper started talking about actually sleeping in the same bed more than once a month. But by then it was ordered and it seemed a waste not to put it in. Bruce has got one too for when he pulls all-nighters. Just don't tell Pepper or I'll probably be paying for it for the next month. Anyway, I'm not planning on sleeping in it tonight, I've got enough work to keep me going for at least a few more hours."

"Do you mind if I….?" asked Clint, indicating the bed with a flick of his head.

"Go ahead," said Tony. "Let me know if you think it's comfortable. I'd prefer not to get a bad back from it."

Clint laid down on it nonchalantly, crossing his legs at his ankles. "Feels pretty good."

Tony could see that Clint was tired, because, honestly, when wasn't Clint tired? The guy slept so little that most days he looked like the walking dead.

"If you want to take a nap, I don't mind," said Tony.

Clint gave a non-committal grunt but got himself comfortable and closed his eyes. He seemed to be drifting off, but just before he did, he opened one eye.

"Tony… thank you."

Tony was a little surprised by this. Clint didn't say thank you very often. He wasn't rude, he just wasn't someone that was effusive in his politeness. Of course he'd seen through why the bed was there, probably the moment he'd caught sight of it, but all the dancing around it was necessary for his pride.

Tony shrugged. "Call it thanks for trapping Pepper in a lift… Please don't tell her I said that."

The eye fell shut and there was just a touch of a smile on his lips. "Secret's safe, Tony."

Then he slept, and only awoke several hours later when Tony had begun packing up for the night. Tony awarded himself some tentative points in the "taking care of Clint" column of his life. At least Clint ended up with less bad backs and stiff necks now.

However, a couple of days later there was the roof incident. It was actually rare for Tony to spend much time on his own roof. He would land in the suit, walk through the machinery to take the suit off and be back inside in less than a minute, and that was really just the terrace anyway. Clint loved the small, impossibly high roof of Avengers Tower, the place where Loki had set up the tesseract device to open the portal. He loved that Tony had given him his own private access to it as well. He would happily sit up there for hours watching the city from his vantage point, in any weather.

Most of the time there wasn't much harm in this, but it was winter now in New York and the thin air of the heights of Stark Tower became bitterly cold.

They had been about to sit down to their weekly team dinner, when Natasha asked if anyone had seen Clint. Everyone shook their heads.

"Jarvis, where's Agent Barton?" asked Tony.

"Agent Barton is not in the Tower," said Jarvis. "He left via the roof exit approximately an hour ago."

"I'll get him," said Natasha.

"I hope he dressed warmly, it's snowing out there," said Bruce.

None of them thought for one moment that Clint hadn't dressed properly for the weather. He was an agent of SHIELD and therefore well versed in appropriate dress for all types of weather as part of his survival training. Natasha went up the stairs from the Penthouse to the roof, as Bruce set the table, and five minutes later they heard her cursing in Russian, as she dragged a shivering Clint into the lounge.

"You stupid, brainless moron," she said. "You could have got hypothermia."

"Sorrrrry, Nnnnatasha," shivered Clint. He was pale and the shivering was of bone jarring, teeth chattering proportions.

She sat him down on the sofa and pulled the throw around him. Bruce grabbed a blanket from another armchair.

"Steve, we're going to need hot chocolate and, Tony, can you get a couple of those wheat bags out and microwave them for a couple of minutes. Thor, pass me the first aid kit," said Bruce, wrapping the second blanket around Clint. Everyone had their tasks and set about doing them as quickly as they could.

"Sorrrry, Nnnnatasha," said Clint again.

"What on earth were you doing up there? Why didn't you come in when you got cold?" asked the Russian.

Thor handed Bruce the first aid kit, and the Doctor took out the thermometer. Pepper produced another blanket, which she too put around Clint.

Clint shrugged. "Lost ttttrack of ttttime."

Everyone in the room understood that to mean that he'd had a flashback, and coupled with the headaches that he'd been getting, flashbacks could potentially have more serious consequences following his bout of meningitis. Apart from the fact that it usually made him unaware of his surroundings, which was dangerous enough, a reoccurrence of the severe headache that he'd had in New Mexico could be life-threatening. Bruce had prescribed anti-inflammatory medication and he made sure that Clint took it every day, but they knew so little about the condition that everyone was more concerned than usual.

"Sorryy for worrryinng you, Nnnatttasha," said Clint.

"It's okay, we just need to get you warm again," said Natasha.

Natasha persuaded him to drink some of the large mug of hot chocolate that Steve presented him with. Tony handed over the microwaved, warm wheat bags, and Natasha tucked them around the archer's neck and torso. Clint hadn't even really protested at this treatment or talked much at all. He just shivered whilst Bruce checked his temperature and apologised a lot to Natasha for worrying her. Bruce didn't look happy.

"Sorrrry, everrryone," said Clint. "Sorrry."

Even to Tony the apologising sounded wrong, and he was just repeating too much for it to be normal. Bruce of course was on the case already and he'd realised that Clint probably really was hypothermic and slightly delirious.

"We need to get him warmed up, and quickly," said Bruce. "His body temperature's too low. Natasha, could you…?"

"Hug him?" she asked.

Bruce nodded, and Natasha got under the blankets so that she could share body warmth with her partner.

"Do we need to call an ambulance?" asked Steve.

Bruce shook his head. "It's a mild case, and he's warming up. The shivering is actually a good sign."

However, several minutes passed, while Bruce continued to look concerned at the thermometer, but after a while Clint's colour improved and the shivering began to lessen.

"'Tasha?" asked Clint. "What are you doing?"

"Just remembering Moscow," said Natasha, and she helped him lift the mug of hot chocolate to his lips again.

"Oh," said Clint. "How did I get hypothermia in the Tower?"

"You were on the roof," said Bruce.

"Oh," said Clint again. "I did something stupid, didn't I?"

"Yes," said Natasha, "but you probably had a flashback and lost track of time."

Clint nodded, looked down and swore quietly.

"If Clint's up to it, then I think we should eat," said Steve. Tony was actually impressed by the Captain's ability to divert attention away from Clint, and therefore ease his obvious embarrassment. Sometimes Steve was pretty good at reading a situation, and Tony wondered why he was still surprised by that.

So, once Clint was considered to be warm enough, they all sat down to eat. Tony spent most of the meal quietly freaking out about the idea that Clint could have died on his roof without anyone knowing. The next day he added more sensors for Jarvis on the roof and programmed him to keep an eye on Clint's body temperature when he was out there after that. It ensured he could never unintentionally endanger himself that way again, and put everyone's mind at rest.

Everyone desperately wanted to help Clint, but it wasn't an easy task, because Clint had developed some serious control issues. He hated people doing things for him and that extended from just making him a cup of coffee, to Tony's cleaning robots tidying his stuff. The occupants of Avengers Tower were getting the hang of not doing things for him, even to the point of what would be considered rudeness when dealing with other people. After one particularly memorable incident with a cleaning bot returning to base with an arrow through its camera "eye", Tony stopped the bots from visiting Clint's apartment and the firing range. Tony didn't tell Clint about it, but he did buy him a broom and left it by his apartment door. Later that day he'd found that someone had replaced the camera eye on the bot – just another example of Clint having talents that Tony didn't know that he possessed.

Natasha told Tony that Clint had always liked his independence, but Loki's mind control had just made everything much worse. He desperately needed to be the one that held the reins of his own life, right down to the smallest of things. It was annoying the hell out of Clint, because he'd even noticed it himself, but he couldn't stop doing it and Natasha was actually hoping it might be the one lever that she could use to get Clint to start taking some of the drugs that the SHIELD psychiatrists he visited twice weekly had recommended. He'd totally dismissed all attempts at getting him to take anything so far.

Clint had a few other more self-destructive tendencies that they were trying to keep under control as well. Such as practising for hours in the range without a break, failing to sleep even in the Common Room or the labs, and skipping meals. Tony took solace in the fact that Natasha would chase him out of the range, Bruce would remind Clint to sleep and no one got out of the weekly team dinner. Pepper, with a little help from Jarvis, already reminded Tony to stop what he was doing and eat, so she started to include Clint in that too, once she realised what was going on.

Meanwhile Bruce was busy interviewing neurologists that he hoped might help with Clint's memory problems and headaches. He'd already dismissed two as not right for the job and had a third lined up. And Natasha and Steve were working on the list of names of people who'd known about the flight back to New York. Natasha had given Clint the job of doing background checks on the people that she already regarded as "safe". It was fairly easy work for him, especially with Jarvis' help and he was unlikely to run into anything that would set off either flashbacks or memories. Clint knew that it was make-work for him, because there were teams of people at SHIELD who did just this all day, but he actually seemed grateful for the distraction.

Tony personally thought that the list was pretty much a dead end, because if SHIELD had been capable of finding the mole then they'd have already done so. He was betting on Jarvis, who was still running the Follow the Money program, but it was going to take a while and none of them were patient people, especially when they'd recently been shot at. And Tony was beginning to realise that whilst he cared about his own life quite a lot, he actually cared more about the lives of his team and Pepper than he did himself.

Tony had other projects to work on while he waited, and he was hoping that one of them might help with Clint's headaches. Eventually he'd need Bruce's help, but for now he'd work on it on his own. That was partly because there were some things that he didn't want anyone else to know about, and this project was a spin-off of something from his past. Every time Clint came into Tony's lab, he switched to another task, but Clint was usually tired so it wasn't hard to keep this from him. Until Bruce found them a neurologist there wasn't much else that he could do, so he kept on with his projects. He was going to help Clint, and that was all there was to it.


	12. Chapter 12

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: In this chapter Bruce discusses Clint's brain, Clint gets disappointed by a lack of progress, Steve frets about his team, Natasha kicks ass and Tony puts two and two together.

Reviewers, I thank you once again for making my day by hitting the review button.

* * *

Erica Sondheim was the third neurologist that Bruce had interviewed. She was very well qualified, on SHIELD's list of experts and Tony had recommended her as someone who had consulted with him for Stark Industries before now. That probably also meant that Tony had slept with her, since she was remarkably intelligent as well as blonde and beautiful. In Bruce's brief experience of Tony Stark, that made her just his type and Tony had sort of hinted that the two of them had history. Bruce wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but right now he was mostly concerned with her skills as a neurologist.

He sat in her office while she looked at the brain scans that he'd brought with him. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she tapped a pen on the desk as she thought. She'd already asked a number of perceptive questions and was now moving on to some more.

"These are certainly interesting and you're right, they clearly show that something closed off some small areas of the brain. You said that your patient has been experiencing intense pain that led to an episode of meningeal inflammation?" She put down the scans, and looked up at Bruce.

Bruce nodded. "Yes, he's been prescribed anti-inflammatories that he's taking daily. The problem is that we know so little about what's going on in his brain, I don't know if that's going to work well enough to stop more damage from occurring."

"He must have been in quite considerable pain," said Erica. "Stopping further damage, and therefore more pain, is the first priority, but I think you've tackled that already with the anti-inflammatories. We need to work out what's going on with these areas and why they don't seem to be open for business. They're clearly memory centres, but unfortunately I can't tell you much more than that. We don't have enough knowledge about the human brain to be able to say more. Can you tell me what caused this condition? I'm assuming it must have been an illness, cancer or maybe a stroke?"

Bruce frowned. SHIELD had been pretty specific in what he could tell the neurologists that he was talking to, at least until he decided which one should take on Clint's case.

"He was exposed to a type of brainwashing," said Bruce. "I can give you the full details if you take on the case." From what she'd said so far, she was definitely the front runner, but he hesitated to give her the full details for the moment. She needed to convince him a little more that she was definitely the right choice.

"I have had experience with brainwashing cases before now. I expect that's why you came to me," said Erica. "Although I've never seen this kind of damage associated with one. However, I'm used to SHIELD sending me some very unusual cases and often having to deal with patients that have experienced severe trauma in the line of duty. I know you're hesitating because you want to make sure that I'm a good fit for your patient, but I'd like to help him. I'm prepared to take things at a pace that he's comfortable with. I won't expose him to testing that he doesn't need or try to coerce him into treatment that he doesn't want."

"I wouldn't have allowed you to do anything else," said Bruce, "but it's good to hear you say it none the less. I'd like you to take the case."

Erica nodded. "I'd be happy to and it does look like it's going to be an interesting one. I'll need his full medical files, and I'd like to meet him as soon as possible. What's our patient's name?"

Bruce nodded. "Clint Barton. I'll get a copy of his file sent through to you. As you thought, he's also suffering from severe PTSD." Bruce went on to give Doctor Sondheim the rest of the detail of the case, including the glowing blue sceptre that had caused the problem in the first place. "I can bring Clint over tomorrow if you have a window."

"I'll make one," said Erica. "His case is urgent."

So in the end, he'd found a neurologist and even persuaded Clint to come along to the appointment the following day without much trouble. Natasha declared her intention to accompany them, which Bruce thought was as much because she was bored of doing paperwork in the Tower, due to being on light duty with her broken arm, as because she was concerned for Clint. Then Tony insisted that they took one of his cars and Happy as their driver, which had been his contribution to the outing because he didn't like being left out of these things.

Clint was nervous, Bruce could see it in the way he fidgeted, especially as the three of them sat in the waiting room. When they were called in, he politely shook Doctor Sondheim's hand and then gave the room a good visual examination before he took his seat. Natasha hung back, observing everything about the doctor and her workplace, before returning to the waiting area. She'd already said that she preferred to give Clint his privacy, and she'd leave it to Bruce to keep the archer company. She was most definitely in protection detail mode, and Bruce knew it wasn't him that she was guarding today.

"It's nice to meet you, Agent Barton," said Erica. "Doctor Banner has given me an overview of your case, and I received a copy of your medical file this morning, somewhat abridged, I suspect, given the large amount of black marker pen that covers some of the pages."

"Some of it's classified," said Clint. "I don't think any of that stuff is relevant, but I'll tell you what I can."

"Mainly I'm interested in your history of head injuries," said Erica, "and you have had a couple, although only one which resulted in a full concussion."

Clint nodded. "I know how to fall. I used to be in the circus." Bruce hadn't known that, and was a little surprised.

"Really?" she asked. "That must have been interesting."

Clint shrugged. "It was a living."

Erica nodded. "Let me explain a few things. I want you to understand that if you don't want to do something then you can just say. We will stop immediately. The more information that you can give me the better, but I will always respect your right to privacy and your right to withdraw consent to treatment at any time. You have control over this process."

Clint nodded, and Bruce thought he might have relaxed just slightly at her words. "I understand."

"Okay, good," said Erica, and took out a file. "Your file says you're ambidextrous. Do you favour one hand over the other, even slightly?"

Clint thought about it for a moment. "I tend to shoot my bow left handed, and I always carry my sidearm on my left, but I'm just as good with either hand. I write with my right hand most of the time, just because it was easier to learn that way, I guess."

Erica made some notes. Handedness was an important indicator in what parts of the brain did what, especially language centres.

"Okay, I'm going to take you through a few basic cognitive function tests and then we'll see where we are. I'm not expecting to make any ground-breaking discoveries today, but we can establish some baselines and see if we can work out what's going on," said Erica.

Clint looked to Bruce and then back to Erica. "Sure."

She then took him through a series of neurological function tests, which Bruce recognised from his days in medical school. This would gauge Clint's state of mind and whether there were any major neurological issues to consider. Bruce found this interesting as it was the first time he'd really had an insight into how much his PTSD affected his day to day life and mood. Clint still managed to down play the impact, even for Erica's probing questions. She also asked him questions about his memory and standard test questions like who the president was, which all seemed to be fine, as expected.

"For the next part, I'd like to monitor your responses with an electrode net," said Erica. "It goes over your head. It's just a series of receivers on little sponges that pick up signals from your brain, all wired together and that then send messages to computer. It's a little uncomfortable, but doesn't hurt." Erica produced the piece of equipment that looked like a heavy duty hair net, with wires trailing from it.

Clint frowned as he regarded the headgear, but shrugged. "If it'll help."

She helped Clint to put on an electrode net and plugged it into the computer. She tested everything from Clint's motor skills to his reasoning and higher functions. His motor skills were of course, unusually good, but Bruce could tell that she was getting some slightly unusual readings from some of her other tests.

"How would you feel if I suggested stimulating a memory that has caused a headache in the past?" she asked, looking at Bruce as well as Clint.

"I've got my painkillers," said Clint, reaching into his pocket. "The headaches aren't pleasant but they're usually manageable, well, until the really bad one in the desert."

"I'm not sure that it's a good idea," said Bruce. "The headaches lead to an increase in cranial pressure and inflammation. Clint's only recently recovered from meningitis. Whilst I know Clint's pretty stoic, I don't think we want to be inducing headaches so close to a major episode."

Clint was frowning again. "At the moment I'd just like to get to the bottom of what's causing the headaches and why I can remember some things and not others. I can take a bit of pain if I have to."

"I understand that," said Bruce, "but I'm more concerned that we risk a bleed into your brain. I just want you to get back to full health before we give this a go, and it's only been a week since you were released from the medical bay back in New Mexico. Since then you've been shot at, you've nearly given yourself hypothermia and you're still not sleeping properly."

Clint gave Bruce a look that clearly told him that he'd rather not discuss this in front of Erica. That was somewhat tough luck though, because Erica needed to know these things if she was going to help.

"I'm sleeping a little better," he protested. Bruce just gave him a look of disbelief at this statement, since he'd spent most of the previous night on the cot in Bruce's lab. He might be sleeping better but it was in four hour chunks and not in his own bed.

Erica checked Clint's file. "I hadn't noted that your meningitis was so recent. I agree we need to give you more time to recover, but at some point I'm going to need some data of what happens in your brain either when you have a flashback or a headache triggered by a memory. It's the only way that we're going to get to the bottom of this."

Clint rested his head on his hand for a moment, rubbing at his temple. "I'd rather get it over with, but if you think that it's best to wait…"

Erica nodded. "We'll give you time to heal, and I'll work on our existing data. Doctor Foster forwarded a considerable amount of data to me that I need time to analyse, and I know that Tony is still working on the spear's mechanism of control with Doctor Banner. Hopefully if we pursue all avenues, we'll find a solution to your headaches."

Erica removed the electrode net from Clint's head. "I think we've done everything that can for now. I'll give you a call when I've done my analysis and we can discuss the results. It'll be a few days, but I'm treating your case as urgent."

Bruce stood and offered Erica a hand. "Thank you, Doctor Sondheim."

Clint ran a hand through his hair, and got to his feet. "Yeah, thanks Doc." He headed straight for the door and Bruce saw him walk past Natasha and to the lifts.

Bruce sighed. Clint had to be a little disappointed that all today had brought were more tests and no solutions. He said his goodbyes to Erica Sondheim and followed Clint out.

He arrived in time for the lift doors to open and Natasha to ask: "how did it go?"

"Same old, same old," said Clint. "No answers, just more stuff about analysing data."

The three of them stepped into the elevator, and Natasha hit the button for the ground floor parking garage.

"You need to give them more time," said Natasha. "Everyone's working on this."

"And yet no one's worked out how to fix me," said Clint, with exasperation as the elevator began to descend.

"It's a complicated problem," said Bruce. "The human brain is, well, complicated. Neuroscience is still learning about which parts of the brain do what and how it all fits together. Couple that with alien mind control and we're just in a totally new area."

Clint shook his head and leaned against the side of the elevator. "I'm just fed up with being broken, and SHIELD are never going to let me back in the field whilst I've got the risk of a meningitis relapse."

"We'll fix you," said Natasha. "Won't we, Doc?"

"Definitely," said Bruce. "Tony's determined that we're going to solve your headaches one way or another, and you know how he loves a challenge."

Natasha inclined her head slightly. "That isn't always a good thing."

"At least we fixed Tony," said Clint. "Everything in his world seems to be sorted out by having Pepper and playing loud rock music in the lab."

Bruce frowned. "I think a lot of it's a front. I'm almost certain that he's not sleeping and probably has some PTSD waiting in the wings for him when he does finally allow himself to process New York."

"Great, we can form a club," said Clint, as the elevator came to a stop.

The elevator doors opened. The Avengers stepped out and started to walk towards Happy and the waiting car.

Clint paused, and so did Natasha, for just a second. They exchanged a look, before they quickened their pace. Bruce hurried to keep up.

"I don't like this," said Natasha.

"Too quiet," said Clint.

Bruce frowned. Now that they mentioned it, he too could sense that something was wrong. He'd spent long enough on the run to get a feel for places and how they changed when bad stuff was about to happen. The garage where Happy was parked served a number of buildings and shops, and there had been a steady traffic of people dropping off and returning to cars. The place was now empty.

"Shit," said Clint, as he reached for his weapon and found nothing. Natasha wordlessly handed him her backup, from her leg holster, she'd already got her main gun out from a shoulder holster.

It was just as they came to a more open crossroads, with parked cars on all sides of them, that both Clint and Natasha seemed to hear something. Then bullets began to rain down on their position. Natasha and Clint dived for cover behind a car, dragging Bruce with them. Bruce found himself, once again, telling the Hulk that it was all going to be fine as he desperately concentrated on his breathing.

"Coms?" asked Clint.

"Down," said Natasha, looking at her cell.

Clint aimed, ducked out of cover for long enough to fire and there was one less gunman to worry about.

"How many?" asked Natasha, as Clint sank down beside her again.

"Were nine, eight now," said Clint. "I can't get a clear view of the others though. Four on each side of the junction, mostly behind the big SUV on the left and the station wagon to the right. I think I saw body armour, so headshots to kill."

Bruce marvelled at the way this pair could shift so seamlessly into dealing with life and death situations. Their communication suggested that they had done this sort of thing a great many times.

"How are you doing, Bruce?" asked Natasha.

"I'll be fine," said Bruce, "I just need to stay calm and not get hit by any stray bullets."

"Left or right, Nat?" asked Clint.

"Right," said Natasha, after barely a second of consideration. She slipped her broken arm out of its sling, apparently ignoring any discomfort that this might cause her.

"You okay to stay here, Bruce?" asked Clint.

He nodded. "Yeah. I'll do my best to stay me, but say hi to the Other Guy if you see him and try to persuade him not to trash New York."

"Will do," replied Clint. He looked at Natasha. "On three." He paused, watched, and then said "three!"

Natasha smiled. This was apparently a secret in-joke, as the two agents disappeared between the cars without further discussion. Bruce calmed himself as best he could, trying the hardest that he could to breathe properly and keep his heart rate down. There was the sound of more gunfire, this time not aimed at him, for which he was thankful.

He could see Clint had already taken down three more with perfectly placed bullets, but was now in hand to hand combat with the final one, who had somehow snuck up behind him. Clint seemed to be holding his own. He caught sight of the flash of red from Natasha's hair as she slammed into one of her assailants from behind, feet first. She fired at another as she landed, and he went down with a small hole in his head through the face mask that he was wearing. The first shot was swiftly followed by a second, and a third. Natasha wrapped her legs around the final man's neck and squeezed until he collapsed from loss of oxygen. Bruce was very glad that she was on their side.

Then she was up and running towards Clint, who seemed to be having a little difficulty with his attacker. The Kevlar armoured figure had lost her head gear, and long black hair now spilled out around her face. Bruce realised that Clint was actually fighting a woman, although he doubted it made much difference to a SHIELD agent. She kicked out at Clint and he fell backwards, with his assailant's face mask in his hand. He looked her in the eyes, a gun was aimed at Clint's head for a split second, and then Natasha was there, kicking the gun away. Clint was down on the ground, apparently in pain and not moving, but breathing fast and shallow.

Bruce didn't really think about what he was doing, he just began running towards Clint. The woman was now making her escape, with Natasha in pursuit. Bruce got a glimpse of Happy following her between the parked cars, apparently he had been oblivious to everything until the shooting had started.

He reached Clint. "Clint?"

The man on the ground just groaned and Bruce could see blood. There was a wound on his arm, which, from his limited experience, looked like a bullet crease. However, it was the blood on Clint's face that worried him more, because it was coming from his nose.

"Clint?" asked Bruce again. He rummaged in the archer's pockets for the painkillers that he knew he had with him.

Clint groaned. "I know her, Bruce, I know her." He had to stop to catch his breath before he could continue. The pain was definitely considerable. "I recruited her..."

"Clint, take these," said Bruce, and put two pills in Clint's hand. He didn't need to be told twice, and swallowed the pills on command. "Whatever it is, you need to stop thinking about it. Start planning your lunch order."

"You don't understand," said Clint, ignoring Bruce's words. "I recruited her for Loki. Her name's Viper." Clint's eyes glazed over and he detached himself from reality in a way that Bruce was all too familiar with. He curled himself into a ball. His lips moved, whispering words that Bruce couldn't hope to hear, and he held his head in his hand as if it would help dispel the pain.

"Clint, don't do this to me. Clint, it's a flashback, come on back to me," said Bruce. It wasn't working and he was really concerned about what this was doing to Clint.

Bruce pulled out his phone but, like Natasha, he had no signal. He needed to get out of here, but he didn't want to leave Clint. Luckily, Happy took that moment to return to the parking garage.

"Happy, we need an ambulance," shouted Bruce. Happy waved an acknowledgement. "No, wait, call Tony, and get him to take Clint back to the Tower. We'll need a doctor, but we have to get Clint somewhere safe."

"Yes, Doc. I'm on it," Happy shouted back.

Bruce turned back to see Clint stop talking, blood streaming from his nose and arm. Bruce took out a handkerchief from his pocket and tied it around the wound on Clint's arm. It would do to stop the bleeding until they could get some proper medical attention. Clint's eyes fell shut, but he continued to writhe in pain. Bruce checked his pulse, it was steady and he breathed a sigh of relief. However, the pain wasn't good and Clint didn't seem particularly responsive, despite Bruce trying again to get a response. Bruce rolled Clint onto his side and into the recovery position, hoping that he'd come round shortly.

Five minutes later Iron Man flew into the parking garage, with Thor slightly behind him. Happy had brought Tony's car over so that it was ready for him to take Bruce back to the Tower, and was now hovering worriedly.

"What happened?" asked Tony.

"Viper," said Bruce. "Her and some other men opened fire on us. Natasha and Clint took them down," he indicated the bodies on the ground around them, some dead and some unconscious. "But Clint saw her face. He remembered her and she used his distraction to escape. He's semi-conscious and probably in a lot of pain from the headache."

"Shit. Clint had to pick her to fight it out with," said Tony. Bruce wondered if Clint could hear them talking, but that didn't really concern him now.

"Natasha went after her," said Bruce.

"I will see if I can track them," said Thor, and jogged out of the garage.

"Can you take Clint back to the Tower?" asked Bruce. "I was going to call an ambulance, but he'll be safer at home in the infirmary if someone is gunning for the Avengers."

Tony knelt down and cradled Clint in his arms, pulling him in towards his chest. "Good plan, I'll take care of him. I guess we know it's Hydra now. I called SHIELD on my way here. They should be here soon to clean this lot up. See you back at the Tower, Big Guy, and be careful."

Iron Man took off with Clint held securely in his arms, leaving Bruce to think about his words. He jumped into the waiting car and Happy drove him back to Avengers Tower.

* * *

Steve couldn't fly, and right now he wished that he could. Members of his team had been attacked and there was nothing that he could do to help. By the time he got there, Iron Man would be back with Hawkeye and SHIELD would be clearing up the remaining bad guys. He wore his Captain America uniform, but really there was no need for it because his job here was to wait for the safe return of his team. He watched an approaching spot in the distance and realised that it was Iron Man, flying well below his top speed.

A few moments later the red and gold armoured suit was landing on the terrace and marching into the lounge with Clint, semi-conscious in his arms and still trying to curl away from the pain he was in.

"We need to get him to the infirmary. He met our friend Viper," said Tony.

"I'll take him," said Steve, holding out his arms. "Go get out of your armour."

Tony nodded and then transferred Clint to Steve's waiting arms. Steve had expected a disagreement, but there wasn't one.

"Careful, he's in a lot of pain," said Tony.

"I've got him," said Steve, knowing that Tony would understand all the unsaid words encapsulated in that sentence. Clint twitched a little at the transfer and emitted a moan.

Steve moved swiftly to the elevator and the Tower infirmary, that Tony had equipped with the hope that they would never need to use it. Certainly Steve had hoped that they wouldn't have to make use of it this soon after the renovations were completed, even if he was pragmatic enough to know that their job entailed dangerous work and a high risk of injury. Tony never did anything half-heartedly so the Tower infirmary was equipped with every piece of medical equipment known to man, and probably some others that Tony had just invented.

Steve found a doctor waiting for him, Doctor Patrick Henderson, at the infirmary door. He was a SHIELD approved, emergency medicine practitioner, who Tony now employed as one of their on-call team for situations like this one. He had a nurse working with him, and they had already got the room ready for Clint.

Steve placed Clint gently on a bed, watching him shudder with pain and wishing there was more that he could do. The medics got to work, ignoring Steve's presence rather than asking him to leave. They stripped Clint of his t-shirt, attached a drip and administered pain medication. Finally Clint relaxed and seemed to come back to himself a bit. Steve wanted to go and talk to him immediately, but he didn't think that the medical staff would appreciate it so he waited.

The nurse began tending to the bullet wound, just as Tony reappeared wearing his customary jeans and t-shirt. The infirmary had glass walls separating the various areas, so Steve stepped out of the treatment room as Tony arrived. They could still easily keep an eye on Clint.

"How is he?" asked Tony, his eyes drawn to the archer.

"I'm not sure," said Steve, "they're still treating him. He seemed to improve when they gave him the painkillers and, from what I overheard, his vital signs are okay."

"That's a relief," said Tony. "I can't believe he went to a routine medical appointment, and he and Natasha ended up fighting off deadly Hydra goons."

Steve nodded in agreement. "To be honest I think we're just lucky that the Hulk didn't make an appearance."

Tony shrugged. "Bruce has more control than he thinks. The plane was unlucky. If Bruce hadn't been injured, we'd probably have got through the entire thing without the green guy. But that's beside the point, Hydra just tried to kill us again."

"And Clint now knows that it's Viper, and probably that we kept that from him," said Steve.

"Shit, I hadn't considered that. He's going to want to talk about it as well, which is going to lead to more pain and Bruce, calmly, telling us all off. How in hell are we going to get him to think about something else?" asked Tony, gesturing in Clint's direction.

Steve didn't have any answers for him. "I think we'll just have to talk to Bruce about that."

"Maybe we should have just come clean from the start," said Tony. "Then he wouldn't have been blindsided by her sudden appearance."

Steve shook his head. "Maybe, but I'm not convinced that would have made it any better."

"This sucks," said Tony. "How did Hydra even know that they'd be there? I mean who knew about the appointment? There can't have been many people. Or are they just watching us and waiting for us to go out?"

"Maybe, we can check for surveillance and Natasha and I can try to narrow our list down," said Steve. "But whoever it is, they were good at covering their tracks. Natasha knows what she's doing and we started with the most likely candidates on the list, the ones new to SHIELD and the ground crew at the airport. We drew a blank, and every person on the list becomes less likely the further we go down. We need Jarvis to finish running his programme so that we can take the fight to Hydra."

"It's going as fast as it can," spat out Tony. "We're dealing with the world economy, markets that open in different time zones, and SHIELD's list of right wing nutcases may not even be complete for all we know. Even Jarvis can't sift through that much data in a just a few days."

"We can't spend our lives sitting around in the Tower. I'm not going to let them pick and choose where they hit us next," said Steve.

"Well, so far their tactics have sucked," said Tony. "Although picking us off a few at time could have worked if they'd done it right. Still, it doesn't seem very smart to go after the Hulk. If they know how to find us then they've got to know that the Hulk is pretty much indestructible. And they've had a few opportunities to take a couple of us out together or alone, but not gone for it. I mean you go jogging in the park most mornings and Natasha went with you a couple of days last week. Bruce has been interviewing neurologists on his own, and Thor's been out exploring New York with Pepper. Even I took the suit out for a test run the other night, and I wasn't that quiet about doing it."

Tony got that look on his face, the one that meant he'd had an idea that wasn't necessarily good. It was the same look that he'd gotten when he'd realised that Loki was going to use the arc reactor in Stark tower to power the Tesseract.

"Son of a bitch, they don't want us at all. They're trying to kill Clint. He knows something, that's locked away in one of those bits of his brain that it hurts to access, and they're trying to kill him before he can remember."

Steve just stood speechless for a moment, trying to take in what Tony had said. It was a leap, that was true, but Steve had a horrible feeling that Tony was right. Tony's ability to jump to the correct conclusion more rapidly than other people was one of the things that made him a genius, and it made sense. This was the first time that Clint had left the Tower since they'd returned from New Mexico. He'd accompanied Natasha to the hospital with her broken arm, along with Steve, and then SHIELD had provided a Quinjet and escort to bring them back to the Tower. Attacking them then would have been stupid, or at least would have required considerable forces. Attacking three Avengers in a parking lot would have seemed to be an easier target, if you didn't know what you were getting yourself into.

"We need to talk to the others," said Steve. "And assuming you're right, we need to decide how we're going to tell Clint."

"He's going to want to be out of the infirmary as soon as he can stand, and then he's going to want to go after Viper. I don't think that we're going to be able to talk him out of getting involved now that they've come after us again," said Tony. "Maybe we just shouldn't tell him that he's the target."

"That hasn't exactly worked out well so far, and if you can work it out, then so can he," said Steve.

"Yeah, this is exactly the kind of thing that his twisted brain is good at picking up on," said Tony. "Great, so we don't have a choice and that's probably going to lead to more headaches and pain for Clint."

Steve couldn't see another way. "We'll have to discuss with Bruce the best way to do it. I don't know, maybe we can dose him up on painkillers and anti-inflammatories or something, but we can't keep him in the dark any longer."

Tony looked at Clint with a considerable amount of worry, a hand rubbing at his forehead as he considered Steve's words. "Fine. I agree. He's going to be pissed but at least we can tell him in a controlled way," said Tony. "Jarvis, Agent Barton is not allowed to leave the Infirmary until we've spoken to him."

"I understand, sir," said Jarvis. "I will lock down the ventilation shafts to be on the safe side."


	13. Chapter 13

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: And we're back! Real life has been getting in the way of fiction again. This chapter has Natasha kicking ass (again), Thor not paying attention, Tony tells everyone what he's been working on, and Bruce tries to persuade Clint to talk about movie night.

Thanks to all my reviewers for the previous chapter, and all you people who've followed and favourited. Every time I get a review it brightens my day. Proof reading was rapid for this chapter so apologies for any mistakes.

* * *

Thor whirled Mjolnir in his hand and leapt into the sky. He had good eyesight, better than that of the average human, and was searching for any sign of his friend Natasha. He saw movement, against the general flow of the crowded streets and two figures running. He dived towards it, intent on helping to apprehend the woman who had tried to kill his friends.

Natasha had her quarry in her sights, as Thor dropped from the sky and thudded to the ground in front of the woman who called herself Viper. She skidded to a halt and Thor could see her unusual green lipstick. He wanted this woman alive, because she would answer for her actions and provide answers to a number of important questions. Although surprised by his arrival, she didn't seem at all scared by him. It wasn't a reaction that he was used to.

She aimed a kick at his midriff, and surprisingly it had some considerable power behind it. He found himself pushed backwards, and the swing of his hammer missed the woman by mere millimetres. Viper was fast, and his bulk would count against him in this fight. She back-flipped out of his range, as he aimed another swing in her direction and his own momentum left wrong footed. The lanes of traffic beside them moved rapidly on the busy street, and suddenly Viper was in and amongst the cars.

Then the Black Widow was beside him, and using a nearby parked car as a jumping off point for a single foot, she tackled their enemy. Thor marvelled at her grace, agility and ferocity. However, the moment of contemplation was brief, Viper squirmed out of Natasha's grip and the Black Widow found herself in the path of an oncoming car. She threw herself out of the way and was on her feet again in seconds, as Viper vaulted onto the bonnet of a car in front of her. Natasha simply copied her move and tackled her again as the two women ran across cars and hit the top of a yellow cab.

There was the sound of screaming from Thor's left and then gun fire. Clearly Viper's backup had arrived, and innocent people were now in danger. He turned towards the gunmen, all clad in body armour and standing in and around the entrance to the subway station. Bullets flew around him and he took cover for a moment behind a stopped car, shouting at others to do the same.

Traffic was grinding to a halt around them now. Thor could see that the Black Widow was fighting one handed and without her usual Widow's Bite, although making good use of her plaster cast to block her opponent's attacks. Black Widow seemed to have the measure of Viper as they traded blows, and Thor was needed to protect others now.

He moved out from behind his cover to assist a woman and small child who had become trapped by gunfire. He used his own body armour and a whirling Mjolnir to shield them, then took them to a safer location in the doorway of a building. Once that was done, he jumped onto the roof of a sedan to see that Viper had pulled a knife. Natasha blocked it expertly, and although bullets were flying in her direction, the gunmen were holding back from targeting her in case they hit Viper.

That meant that Thor was now drawing the majority of their fire. If it had not been for the close proximity of so many civilians, then he would have brought down lightning upon their attackers but it wasn't safe to do so at the moment. He needed to come up with a plan of attack and carry it out before any more humans were hurt. He swung Mjolnir in front of himself and ran towards the attackers, just as Viper took advantage of Natasha's weaker side. The spy went down hard on the ground behind a minivan, and Thor changed direction to retrieve her before Viper could come in for the kill.

He could see that she was dazed, but already pushing herself up from the ground. He arrived at her side and bent down to help her up. He felt a sharp stab in his side and realised that he had misjudged Viper's ability to cover the distance as quickly as he could. He turned to see the woman smiling at him, a few feet away.

"Hail Hydra," she said, and suddenly she was gone, running towards the subway tunnel entrance.

He wanted to follow her but the pain in his side momentarily prevented him. He looked down to see a throwing knife, sticking out of his left-hand side, just at his belt line. He felt his strength falter, and in a swift reversal of roles, Natasha was now helping him to the ground.

"Go after her," said Thor, as he leant back against the minivan. "The knife plugs the hole, I will not bleed to death before help arrives."

Natasha nodded and was off in pursuit of Viper again, but now the Hydra operative had a good head start on her. Thor closed his eyes for a moment, trying to will the strange twisting pain that emanated from his wound into submission. Some minutes must have passed because Natasha returned and was at his side again.

"I lost her in the subway tunnel. They must have planned it as their escape route, which makes sense. You don't execute an attack like this without a way out," said Natasha. "We need to get you to a hospital."

Thor shook his head and pushed himself to his feet. It took most of his strength. "Doctor Banner believed that we should all reassemble at the Tower, where our defences are strongest. Mjolnir will carry me there and your healers can do what is needed to close the wound."

Natasha frowned, pulling out her cell phone. "Bruce has a point, but I don't know if I like you flying with a knife in your side."

"I have had wounds more severe than this in my time," replied Thor. "The Tower is not far from here."

"If you're sure, I'll call ahead and let them know that you're incoming," said Natasha. She was business-like, apparently deciding that she couldn't talk the god out of this course of action. She was already pressing the buttons on her phone and putting it to her ear.

"Thank you." Thor gave her a nod, wrapped a hand around his side to lessen the pull on the wound, and threw Mjolnir into the air in the direction of Avengers Tower.

The journey was short, a few minutes at most just as he had told Natasha, but weakness seemed to be spreading across his whole body. He landed in something of a crumpled heap as Tony and Steve were coming out onto the terrace.

"Thor," shouted Steve, rushing to help him. "Natasha said that you were wounded."

"She is correct, my friends. In a moment of distraction, Viper threw a knife at me." He revealed the knife in his side, and saw Tony visibly pale at the sight.

"Okay, we're getting you to the infirmary now. It looks like Clint is getting a roommate," said Tony. "I hope he doesn't mind sharing."

Steve moved to support Thor under his shoulder, and Tony took the other side of the God of Thunder. Their movement was a little ungainly but at least progress was being made towards the elevator.

Thor was feeling weaker by the moment. "This wound is unlike any that I have had before. I confess to feeling very strange."

It was just as they stepped into the elevator that the strange feeling became something more. It engulfed him in darkness and unconsciousness claimed him.

* * *

Clint came to his senses in what he knew to be the Tower, because the view was a complete giveaway. It took a few seconds of processing time to work out that it was the Infirmary in the Tower and not his apartment. Then it pretty much all came flooding back to him, with an accompanying twinge in his head as he remembered the woman whose face he'd seen. He hadn't really been unconscious, just so focussed on dealing with the pain that he hadn't had enough spare brainpower to do anything other than whimper. He also remembered that both Steve and Tony had carried him like a child, which he then tried to forget as quickly as he could.

After that there had been a doctor and he'd wanted to give him painkillers, well more than he already had, so Clint had refused which led to a short argument that was won by Clint. Now he had a headache and nothing to combat it with, and Natasha and Bruce, and probably Tony and Steve too, were going to kill him when they found out. Clint wasn't sure how Thor felt about his wellbeing since he didn't know him as well as the others, but he suspected that disapproval would be radiating from the Norse god too.

The headache was manageable as long as he didn't dwell on what had happened, and he'd rather have that than the drugs at this point. If it continued or got much worse, then he might change his mind. The doctor was still doing tests so he wasn't going to be allowed to leave here (officially) for a while, but Clint was already planning his exit. Bruce entered the room a few moments later.

"Hey, Bruce," said Clint, in as nonchalant a way as he could manage, trying not give away how much his head hurt.

"Doctor Henderson said that you refused more pain medication," said Bruce.

"They gave me some and another dose of anti-inflammatories. It's not that bad," said Clint.

"Then why are you wincing," said Bruce, picking up on all the cues immediately.

"I didn't say it didn't hurt," replied Clint.

Bruce handed him his sunglasses, without a word, and Clint accepted them with the same silence. He slipped them on and it definitely helped to make him more comfortable.

"I was expecting an argument," said Clint.

"If you want to be in pain then I'm not going to force you to take more painkillers," said Bruce. "Although Natasha may not be as understanding. And you already know that Tony is going to think that you're an idiot, and Steve is just going to be puzzled, so you don't need a lecture from me."

"Bruce, we need to talk about the attack…" began Clint, but a stab of pain stopped him. Bruce cut in before he could get any further.

"Don't say anything. You need to protect your head, and not think about it. So, I'm going to get you to talk about something else and then we'll work out what to do about what happened today. I don't want any arguments, Clint," said Bruce, his tone making it clear that he meant business.

Clint frowned. He really wanted to talk about the woman, but Bruce usually had his best interests at heart. "Okay, but we will discuss this later, headaches or not," said Clint.

He could already feel the resurgence of pain in his skull at the mere thought of the parking garage fight. He really hated the way he had to tiptoe around his own memories at the moment, although this was going to present a new problem. This was something that he could actually remember and was still going to cause him pain.

"We'll work something out," said Bruce. "So, Tony suggested we have a movie night this week. Any thoughts about what we should watch?"

Clint raised his eyebrows. "Seriously? You want me to talk about movies?"

Bruce shrugged. "You are the resident expert."

Clint had to admit that Bruce knew what he was doing. He was now concentrating on the many film options that they could select and not anything else, so he let his mind wander in that direction because it led to less pain.

There was the sound of rapid conversation from the corridor outside the treatment area, and then Tony and Steve were half lifting and half dragging Thor into the infirmary. The doctor was a step behind them, already taking charge of the situation. They manhandled Thor onto a bed, Steve doing the majority of the heavy lifting. The God of Thunder was not a small man, and a large part of his makeup was most likely muscle.

Both Bruce and Clint turned towards the new arrivals. Clint could see that Bruce was somewhat shocked by this development, but was maintaining his calm exterior, as always.

"What happened?" asked Bruce.

"Viper," said Tony. "She stabbed him." Then Tony apparently remembered who else was in the room, and added. "Oh shit."

It was about then that Clint felt another stab of pain, right through his head, like he'd imagine an ice-pick felt if it was stabbed into your brain. He closed his eyes against the pain, his hand automatically going to his forehead. He let out a groan.

"Clint?" asked Bruce.

Clint just groaned again. It was really all he could manage about now, because he could see her face, the woman with the green lipstick and black hair with the green tint to it. She was poisonous, and on SHIELD's list of bad guys several times over. It was why he'd recruited her for Loki's army. Then the tactical part of his brain nudged him, and he realised he needed to say something to the doctor about Thor.

"Clint, I'm going to give you some more painkillers," said Bruce.

He could hear the sound of metal clinking on metal, medical devices being moved around and he had to stop Bruce before he gave him anything to dull his senses. He pushed his eyes open, causing himself more intense pain as the light flooded in, even though he had his sunglasses on.

"No," he ground out. He was breathing hard by now, like he'd been running in a marathon. He hit out at whatever Bruce had been about to give him and there was a clatter as something hit the floor. "Viper… she's poisonous." He stopped, screwing his eyes shut again.

"She's certainly evil," said Steve, sounding closer than Thor's bedside. He was probably coming over to help Bruce.

"No… not what I mean… her knife… poisoned…uh… snake venom," said Clint, and gave in to the desire to curl into a ball on his side and push his head into the pillow. It was beginning to feel like his skull would explode with the thumping pressure.

"Okay, Clint," said Steve. He felt a hand squeeze his shoulder in an unexpected gesture of reassurance. "You told us. Bruce is going to give you something now."

Clint just gave a vague attempt at a nod, and let whatever Bruce stuck him with carry him away into unconsciousness. At this point he didn't care if they were knocking him out, he just wanted the pain to stop. For once darkness was a good thing.

* * *

Tony watched Clint go limp, and his eyes widened. He moved out of Doctor Henderson's way, so that he could tend to Thor.

"Shit, shit, shit," swore Tony. "I didn't think. I'm an idiot. We've been so careful and then I just go and open my big mouth." He kicked at the nearest wall half-heartedly. He was so angry with himself.

"About as much of an idiot as I am," said Bruce, breaking off a needle into the sharps bin. "I asked you what had happened."

"We can blame each other later. What about Thor?" asked Steve, turning to Doctor Henderson.

The Doctor was examining the wound in Thor's side, whilst the nurse stripped off the Asgardian's armour and clothing. "We need to get him into surgery. If the blade was poisoned then we have to find out what it was and give him the antidote or the antivenin if your Agent Barton is right."

Tony already had his phone out and was calling the trauma surgeon that he had on-call. He kept half an ear on the conversation that was still going on in the room.

"I've taken a blood sample," said Henderson. "I'll send it down to the lab for analysis."

"Can they test for viper venom?" asked Steve.

"They should be able to," said Henderson. "I'll ask them to start with it. If it is that, then at least viper antivenin is widely stocked in emergency rooms, but it's nasty stuff. However, he's not human so we can't know how it's going to affect him, and the medical records that SHIELD have for Thor are sketchy to say the least."

"More new ground," said Bruce. "You might want to bear in mind that he's already told us that Asgardian medical care isn't like ours. Apparently patients are sedated throughout, so it's quite possible that he won't understand what's going on if he wakes up. I should also talk to the anaesthetist about medication levels."

Henderson nodded. "As soon as I'm notified that they've arrived, I'll let you know."

Tony finished his discussion with the surgeon, and a message from Jarvis on his phone told him that the operating room would be ready shortly. "She'll be here in ten minutes with her team, and the OR will be ready in five. Get him prepped and they'll be ready."

Henderson didn't need to be told twice. He and his nurse started on getting Thor ready for surgery, and then moving him through to the surgical suite where the doctors awaited him. Bruce followed them to chat to the anaesthetist, but returned a few moments later to report that all his concerns were already taken care of by the impressive team that Tony had called in. The door closed on the operating room and the other Avengers were left to cross their fingers for a good and swift surgery. It was at about that point that Natasha walked into the infirmary.

"Who wants to give me the sit rep?" she asked.

The three men had congregated in the corridor outside the treatment room where Clint was still sleeping. They had been about to discuss what had happened, but so far hadn't really got to it. There was a certain amount of shock setting in that two of their team members were currently requiring medical treatment.

"Bruce gave Clint some knock out drops and he's sleeping them off until his head stops hurting. Thor's having a knife removed from his side, but may also have been poisoned," said Tony. "I think that pretty much covers things so far. How was your day, honey?"

"People tried to kill me," said Natasha, ignoring the endearment but giving Stark a look that clearly told him not to push his luck.

"Actually, we think they might have been after sleeping beauty," said Tony.

"Clint? Why?" asked Natasha.

Bruce gave him a look and he realised that he hadn't actually imparted this theory to anyone other than Steve.

"He's the only one of us that hasn't been outside the Tower since we got back," said Tony. "He knows Viper, and she could have gone after the rest of us any time. I think he's got something locked up in his head that she doesn't want him to remember."

"It's got to be something important," said Steve.

Natasha nodded. "She's going to come after him again."

"Can we protect him here?" asked Bruce.

"The Tower's defences are state of the art. Clint helped to make them impenetrable," said Tony.

"But Clint's going to be his own worst enemy," said Bruce. "He's going to want to remember, and that could make his condition worse. Every time he has a headache, it causes inflammation and brain inflammation is bad news."

"So what are we going to do? We can't keep knocking him out whenever he thinks about Viper," said Steve.

"He's going to want to help bring in Viper," said Natasha. "We're going to have trouble stopping him, too. Once Clint sets his mind on something, he sees it through."

"Then it's going to kill him," said Bruce, with desperation. "We can't let him do that to himself."

"Then we have to keep him distracted," said Steve. "And make him understand how much damage he could be doing to himself if he doesn't stay out of this."

"I've been working on something," said Tony, looking down at the ground for a moment.

"What kind of something?" asked Steve. Tony could hear the slight edge of suspicion in his voice.

"Something that my father was working on before he died," said Tony. "He'd moved on to working on some medical technology, and one of the things he had on the drawing board was a brain scanner. Except this one didn't just scan, it takes a copy of the person's brain, like a snap shot of their memories. With the right post processing, it should be possible to view those memories like a movie. If I can get it perfected, then we could view Clint's memories and maybe work out what Viper wants with him."

Bruce was frowning, one arm across his body, whilst his other held his glasses and tapped them against his lips. "Can I take a look at what you've got so far?"

"Of course," said Tony. "It would be good to get a second opinion, especially since it's gamma technology."

"You're using gamma radiation to do this?" asked Steve, clearly somewhat horrified.

"Well, very low levels, and it's only part of the process," replied Tony.

"If this is gamma technology, why didn't you come to me before now?" asked Bruce.

It was a valid question and one that Tony had been expecting all along. "It's still experimental. Partly I just didn't have enough of the concept down, but I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up, especially Clint's, if it wasn't going to work. He's been hanging around both our labs, which I don't mind," Natasha shot him a look at this half-truth. "Okay, I actively encourage him. But my point is that the less people who had to keep this a secret from him the better. And I knew what your reaction to the idea of using gamma radiation on anyone would be, even at low levels."

"Low levels are harmless enough," said Bruce. "But you're right, I'll want to double check everything before we even start thinking about building this machine."

"That's all very well, but it doesn't help us with what we do with Clint right now," said Natasha. "Distraction is only going to work for so long."

"We can increase the anti-inflammatories and pain medication," said Bruce. "But that's not a long term solution. Tony's scanner might solve our Viper problem, but it won't help us get to the bottom of what's causing Clint's headaches. We need Erica Sondheim to come up with something, fast."

"I'm sure she'd do a house call," said Tony. "But you're wrong, the scanner could give her more information to work with when it comes to the headaches."

"We could definitely use her insight here," said Bruce.

"Yeah, she's a smart cookie, she'll figure it out. I tried to hire her for the Stark Industries medical division once. Turned me down flat - something about preferring to keep working with real people," said Tony.

"She wants to do a scan of Clint's brain whilst he's experiencing a flashback and an episode of pain," said Bruce, "which isn't going to be pleasant for him, but he said he'd be willing to try it."

"Of course he did," said Tony, "he's desperate to solve this so that he can get back into the field and start hunting down Hydra goons."

"What's so wrong about that?" asked Steve. "He's a soldier and he wants to get back into the fight."

"At the very least it's going to hurt… a lot," said Bruce. "Erica and I think that we should wait until he's had more time to recover from the meningitis. Otherwise he's risking a relapse."

Natasha looked through the glass at the sleeping form of Clint Barton. "I think we should let him try, and I don't think we should wait much longer. It's what he wants. I know what I'm saying and how it sounds, but with this new information about Viper, everything's going to be harder for him anyway. He needs a solution."

"Friends don't let friends fry their brain," said Tony.

"You haven't offered an alternative," said Natasha.

Tony opened his mouth to answer but Jarvis interrupted. "Sir, I have completed running the "Find the Money" program as instructed."

"Great news, Jarvis. So where do we find the Viper's nest?"

"Washington DC, sir," replied Jarvis.

"That can't be right," said Steve. "I was expecting a country with a right-wing totalitarian regime."

"I should point out, Captain Rogers, that I have only followed the money to an organisation which has a high probability of being a front for Hydra."

"That's better than we had before," said Natasha.

"The organisation is a law and lobbying firm call the Lerna Group," said Jarvis. "The senior managing partner is Alexander Lerna."

"Lerna?" said Bruce. "As in Lake Lerna, the home of the Hydra in Greek mythology." The look that he gave the others told them that he was fairly sure that this wasn't coincidence.

"Exactly, sir," replied Jarvis.

"Give us the address, J. We're definitely checking them out," said Tony.

Jarvis reeled off the address of an office block in a business district of Washington. It didn't really sound like the kind of location that a Hydra base would be found, but maybe that was the point.

"I can go get the suit and meet you there," said Tony, taking a step towards the exit of the infirmary and elevator.

Steve shook his head. "No, we have wounded and we need to protect them first and foremost. We can't leave Thor and Clint here alone, even with the Tower defences. That may be just what Hydra wants. You need to stay here with Bruce and finish your machine. We have to find out what it is that Clint knows, and then we'll have a better chance of dealing with whatever is going on. Natasha and I will go and check out the Lerna Group and, if necessary, we'll call in SHIELD as backup."

"Really? You'd rather have SHIELD back you up than Iron Man and the Hulk?" asked Tony, with a sort of slightly hurt disbelief. However, he did have to agree that Clint and Thor needed protecting, and Jarvis was good but he'd benefit from the backup of a human brain.

"Actually, I don't think you'd want the Hulk in DC," said Bruce.

"We need a subtle approach," said Natasha. "Iron Man and the Hulk just aren't subtle."

"You have a broken arm," said Tony, pointedly.

"I hadn't noticed," said Natasha, having definitely picked up Clint's fine-tuned sarcasm at some point. "I'm still capable of infiltrating a Hydra base and doing it more quietly than you would."

"Damn, I hate it when other people are right. Fine, I'll stay home with the shape changing physicist, and babysit the archer and the Norse god. Wow, my life could not get any weirder right now. I'll get Jarvis to pull up everything he's got on the Lerna Group and send it to you. Just… don't die, okay?"

"We'll do our best, Tony," said Steve.


	14. Chapter 14

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: Sorry again for another long break between chapters. This is also a bit of a short chapter, but I've been having a lot of trouble getting it right, and I decided that something was better than nothing.

In this chapter Clint and Thor catch up on their sleep, Tony and Bruce go into hardware mode, and Natasha and Steve go on a field trip to DC.

Reviewers, you are, as always, awesome, awesome people.

* * *

They had a few hours before Clint was due to wake up, and Thor was going to be in surgery for a while. Bruce and Tony headed down to the labs to look at the scanner that Tony had been "tinkering with", as he put it. Bruce had already called Erica Sondheim and asked her if she could come to the Tower. She'd been concerned about Clint and agreed to join them as soon as she could.

Bruce looked over the plans that Tony had drawn up in great holographic detail, and then he looked at the machine which Tony had started to build. The plans were impressive but Tony had only just begun to put the actual machine together.

"Jarvis, I'm going to need everything from Dad's old lab and then I want you to get hold of a CT scanner and get it delivered here. It'll have to come up in the freight elevator. It's going to be a pain to get it into position, and we won't be able to get it up to the Infirmary. At least until I can do some more remodelling. We'll just have to get it set up here. Then I'll need that list of parts in the file labelled Clint Needs his Head Examined."

"Yes, sir," replied Jarvis. Bruce marvelled that Jarvis somehow managed to get the roll of his non-existent eyes into his voice. "Most of the parts are available in the Stark Industry laboratory stores, however some may have to come by overnight courier."

"Just make it happen, J," said Tony, already getting to work on the prototype of his scanner.

"So what do you think we're actually going to be able to see?" asked Bruce.

"I have no idea. Dad wasn't optimistic, which was why it's been at the bottom of the pile of "things-to-investigate-that-I-found-in-his-stuff". But he didn't have the computers available to do the post processing that we do. If we can get the right algorithms then we might get a glimpse of something that Clint hasn't consciously remembered, and it could be enough to help us." Tony didn't even look up as he spoke.

The two men got to work, Bruce looking into the gamma radiation side of the plans, whilst Tony concentrated on the engineering.

"Clint's going to have to be unconscious for this," said Bruce. "If he sees or hears any of this, we know what will happen."

Tony nodded. "Yeah, definitely. Good luck getting Clint to agree to that, though."

Bruce removed his glasses and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "His stubborn streak is really making things a lot more difficult than they need to be."

"Yeah, now tell me something that I don't know, Doctor Banner," said Tony. He was putting together some part of the new scanner and clearly concentrating.

Bruce went back to his own part of the project. Normally loud rock music would have been blaring out across the room but either because he was working with Bruce or just because he didn't feel like it, they were working in near silence. For once, Bruce felt that Tony was actually being deadly serious. About half an hour into their labours, Jarvis alerted them that Doctor Sondheim had just entered the building.

"Send her up, J," said Tony.

"Yes, sir," said Jarvis.

A few minutes later the blonde doctor entered the lab. "Thanks, Jarvis," she said, apparently already familiar with the AI. "New lab?" she asked, looking around her.

Tony smiled. "You like?"

"Very you," said Erica. She was wearing a stylish cream linen suit and carried a folder. "How's my patient?"

"Currently sleeping off a sedative," said Bruce. "He's remembering some things from whilst he was under Loki's control and it's giving him headaches. I've been trying to distract him, but I'm really not sure if we can keep this up long term."

Erica frowned. "I agree. I've found some things that might help us in the brain scans that SHIELD sent over." She reached into her bag and Tony cleared a space on one of the lab benches. She spread out the brain scans from the agents controlled by Loki, including Clint's. Each was a black piece of plastic, illuminated in bright colours for the brain activity present.

"Yeah, we're going to need a translation," said Tony, looking at the scans in front of him.

"Look at Agent Barton's and compare it to Professor Selvig," said Erica. The former showed considerably more lit up areas, but very similar dark areas. "I think that Selvig's resistance was focussed on one activity, building the failsafe. Agent Barton was constantly trying to subvert a number of activities, and the effort was considerable. Basically he overloaded his brain."

"So like running an engine in the red until it starts to burn out," said Tony.

Erica nodded. "Something like that. I'm fairly certain that if he'd spent much more time under the influence of Loki's device then he'd have started to suffer from even more severe problems than he's experiencing now. He might even have suffered an aneurism."

Bruce exchanged a look with Tony.

"I have never been so glad of Red's obsession with knocking sense into Clint's head," said Tony.

"Okay, all of that makes some kind of sense, but how did that lead to the problem that he's having now?" asked Bruce.

"I'm still working on that but I think the entire process damaged his neural pathways in those areas. The sceptre seems to produce localised memory loss - none of the subjects of Loki's mind control have perfect recall of what happened. That combined with the damage created by the constant fighting against, for want of a better word, his "programming", may have rerouted some of Agent Barton's neural pathways creating pinch points around certain memory centres. The pinch points mean that the signals are sending pain responses and irritating the nerves causing inflammation," said Erica. "I'd like to get some more scans to verify that is what we're actually dealing with."

"Okay, now I know how people feel when I try to explain mechanical engineering to them. Just tell us how we fix him," said Tony.

"At the moment, I don't know," said Erica. "I've been considering TMS."

Bruce nodded, whilst Tony looked perplexed.

"Tetramethylsilane? I really wouldn't recommend that," said Tony, clearly being facetious.

Bruce just gave Tony a look. "She's talking about Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation."

"Really? More voodoo pseudo-science. I thought better of both of you."

"It has been shown to help depression and migraine," said Erica. "Or we could move straight on to TDCS. That's Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation, Tony."

"I could have guessed that," replied Tony. "Still not convinced that isn't quackery too."

"I'll give you some journal articles on it, but I agree it's still at the point where it has to prove itself more." She sighed. "Other than that, we're looking at much more basic therapy, such as a stroke victim could expect. I'd take him through exercises to distract him and help him reroute his neural pathways around the damaged areas. It could be very difficult however. Again, I'd like to point out that we've never had a case like Agent's Barton's. We should probably consider what we do if none of this works and the pain becomes continuous," said Erica.

"That is really something that I had actively been avoiding considering," said Tony.

"We still have a lot of analgesic options," said Bruce.

"I know, but I'm concerned that he's already had two serious episodes of extreme pain, one of which led to an acute inflammation of the meninges that could have killed him if it hadn't been treated aggressively. We might have to consider a medically induced coma to give him time to rest and regain normal brain function at some point."

"You're coming out with all the best stuff today, Erica," said Tony, an unusual harshness in his tone. Bruce didn't think that he'd ever seen Tony acting as serious as this for such a long period of time whilst interacting with another human being. "The alternative is that we just find a way to fix him."

"But at the moment we don't know how. I promise that I have Agent Barton's best interests at heart and you, Doctor Banner, wouldn't have chosen me if I didn't. I'm also the best in my field, which is why I've worked with SHIELD in the past," said Erica. "I wouldn't suggest this unless I thought we might need to consider it as an option. I hope we don't, but Agent Barton isn't simply suffering from migraines or even recovering from a bad head injury. This is something with an alien cause that no neurologist has ever seen before. I would love to be able to flick a switch and set this right, but I can't and I doubt we're going to be able to free Clint of his headaches entirely. That's just the reality of neurological conditions."

Bruce actually watched the moment that Tony had an idea happen.

"Shit, I'm supposed to be a genius and I didn't even see it," he said. "Flick a switch. You said "flick a switch". Maybe we can. Jarvis, pull up the original plans that Dad had for the new scanner."

"Yes, sir," said Jarvis.

Bruce watched as the plans sprang up from the desktop, outlined in blue light. Tony enlarged an area of the plans for Bruce and Erica to see more closely.

"Okay, so if we just flip this on its head…" Tony did so and Bruce could finally see what he was getting at.

"It stops being a scanner and starts being a neural regenerator," said Bruce. "You'd use the low levels of gamma radiation to stimulate regrowth. We really could just flick a switch…"

Tony nodded. "Yes, but that's beyond experimental. Dad had pretty much got the scanner function nailed, but the rest of it… it's just my latest good idea. There aren't any plans and it's not something we can knock together in a day, it's going to take more research - probably a lot more. It's one thing to passively scan a human subject, it's something else entirely to start rewiring neurons. We could be years away from human trials, and even then I couldn't guarantee that this would actually work for Clint."

"You're right, but it's still an approach that we didn't have an hour ago," said Bruce.

Erica also nodded, definitely intrigued. "You do realise that if you could get this to work then it would revolutionise the field of neurology. Stroke victims could just restore the damaged neurons and wouldn't have to go through months of therapy. This really would be an amazing machine."

"All the more reason to finish the scanner," said Bruce. "Can you help Clint with our immediate Viper problem?"

"I think so," said Erica. "I can give him enough distraction techniques that he shouldn't have to work too hard at keeping thoughts of Viper out of his head. I could still do with those scans that we talked about. If we get this machine working then we're going to need accurate maps of which areas to target when it comes to regenerating Clint's neural pathways."

Tony sighed. "Oh good, just what Clint needs; another painful experience to be his stupidly stoic self through." His eyes were uncharacteristically dark.

Bruce recognised this mood that Tony was in. At some point Tony had decided that Clint was his to protect, perhaps even more than the other members of the Avengers Initiative. It wasn't that Clint couldn't protect himself, as he'd demonstrated in the parking lot earlier (at least until Viper had distracted him with her presence), but he was ill. He was the most vulnerable of the team members at the moment, and it wasn't just Tony who was getting the feeling that it was their responsibility to take care of Hawkeye.

Before he'd met Tony, Bruce would never have guessed that the billionaire had such a propensity for looking after others. He'd basically taken five strangers into his house, and then gone out of his way to make them feel at home. It certainly hadn't been a part of his personality that the media had made much of, but then they'd been focussed on the flashy playboy. Tony hadn't really been that person for a while now, and maybe that's when he started protecting people rather than just having fun. Self-destructive fun, Bruce reminded himself. There was a reason why everyone worried about Tony's drinking, even now.

The problem that Tony was now having was that caring about people enough to want to protect them also meant hurting when you failed to keep them safe. Clint's condition wasn't Tony's fault, but he was definitely disappointed in his own ability to produce a solution to the problem. Tony hadn't had much practice at having people to care about, or worry about. Certainly not ones that worried about him in return. Up until the Avengers came into his life, Tony had only really had three people who he cared about – Pepper, Rhodey and Happy. Bruce supposed that he shouldn't be that surprised that, when Tony got more people who mattered to him, he was determined to hang on to them.

Bruce thought that might actually be the reason why the Avengers had started to work – they were all in the same boat somehow. Bruce had been lonely, Steve had been stranded, Natasha had no family except SHIELD, Clint was an orphan and Thor had a brother who wanted him dead. They all needed each other and at the moment, it was easy for everyone to pull together to help Clint.

"We'll top up his painkillers," said Bruce.

"Yeah, that is not going to work because you won't do anything against his wishes and he won't let you drug him into happy-land," pointed out Tony.

"I think we can probably negotiate something," said Erica.

"Very well, doctors. I have work to do, and so do you. Why don't you go and check on your patient, Erica? I expect he'll be waking up soon," said Tony and turned back to his lab bench. "Take Bruce with you. I need to get as much of this down as I can before the idea fades and I need loud AC/DC to do it. Jarvis, hit it."

Loud rock music rang out across the lab. Bruce took his cue, shutting down the file that he'd been working on, and escorting Erica into the corridor outside. Tony needed some time to get his thoughts in order and, for him, that had actually been a relatively polite way of telling them to get out of his space.

* * *

Natasha and Steve got themselves kitted out and jumped onto a Quinjet to DC. They spent the relatively short flight going over everything that Jarvis had been able to pull together on the Lerna Group.

Alexander Lerna seemed to be a well-respected lobbyist, which just didn't sit right with him being linked to Viper and Hydra. Jarvis's digging hadn't unearthed any hidden connections as yet though, other than the usual political networking which was normal for a man in his job. Steve wasn't exactly thrilled with even that, but it wasn't illegal. He could be described as "right wing" in his political convictions but that was about all there was to it. He wasn't any more evil than any other lobbyist who worked for big business.

Natasha scanned the blueprints of the building for anything unusual.

"So how do we get in?" asked Steve.

"We break in," said Natasha. "At night."

Steve looked a little uncomfortable for a moment. "Okay, if you think that's the best way."

"You were expecting something else?"

"I thought we might pretend to be businessmen or something…"

Natasha just raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, Captain, you may be more subtle than Tony, but you're still a bit too conspicuous to just walk in the front door. Normally I'd go in undercover over a period of a few weeks, but we don't have time. If they're going after Clint, then whatever they think he knows is relevant to something that they're planning soon. Still, we're going to need at least a couple of days of surveillance to get the lie of the land."

"Agreed," replied Steve. "So, this is your area of expertise. What do you suggest?"

Natasha pointed out the weak point that she'd identified in the building's security. "We need to check out the patterns of the security guard patrols, and see what security systems they have, but basically we sneak in and then go and investigate this." She indicated another area on the blueprints.

"What's that?" asked Steve.

Natasha pulled out the blueprints for the block that the building was in. "Look, there's some missing space here, between the Lerna Group building and its neighbour. I'd like to know why."

Steve nodded. "Me too. Do you think it's a hidden room?"

"That would be my guess, but who knows? Once we're in, we can get a better look."

"We'll take it slowly and check for security measures as we go," said Steve.

Natasha smiled. "Glad to see that you've been paying attention, Captain. If we keep our heads then this shouldn't be a problem."

The Quinjet landed in DC in the early evening, so they headed for a hotel near their target and waited. The next day would be spent in patient surveillance, learning everything that they could about the day to day running of the building. Natasha wanted longer than the two days that they had to get a better feel for the place, but time was short and Clint was being threatened.

She would rather have stayed back at the Tower to keep an eye on her partner, and later, when the mission was over, she wondered if perhaps this meant that she was subtly off her game. She wanted Viper to pay for her attack on them, not just for hurting Clint but for stabbing Thor as well. They were her friends, all of the Avengers were, which was an unexpected turn of events because generally she didn't make friends. Clint was special though, she would never repay her debt to him for not executing her as he was supposed to. Some things just couldn't ever be repaid, and sometimes a destiny was changed by the lack of doing something as much as it was by it being done.

Viper wanted Clint and she couldn't have him, the Black Widow would see to that.


	15. Chapter 15

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: Wow, I was blown away by some of the reviews for the last chapter. Thanks everyone!

In this chapter Clint gets distracted, Bruce wonders what he did to deserve this, Thor threatens to electrocute the medical staff and Tony continues his project to get Clint's head examined.

* * *

Clint had awoken to find both Bruce and Doctor Sondheim standing at the end of his bed, looking over his chart. He appeared to have been dressed in a new t-shirt and sweat pants at some point, which meant he'd been here long enough for that to happen but they weren't expecting him to be here long term. He'd have been put in a gown or scrubs if the doctors were anticipating him being in their care for a while. He wished he wasn't quite so well versed in the minutiae of medical proceedings but his job wasn't exactly a Sunday picnic in the park.

It had taken him a few moments to remember where he was and for Bruce to say some reassuring words that helped him to reorient himself. He felt slightly sick and dizzy, probably from whatever Bruce had used to knock him out. It must have been the first thing that had come to hand, because Bruce had been extremely careful in the past about making sure Clint wasn't given painkillers that made him nauseous. It seemed like it had only been moments before when he'd awoken to Bruce asking him about movies and then Thor being rushed in with a knife wound in his side.

A twinge of pain told him not to pursue that line of enquiry any further, so he decided to concentrate on Bruce and Erica. He really wanted to ask questions and find out where the other Avengers were, but it wasn't worth the pain or the risk to his health. Bruce had been quite clear on what might happen to Clint if he wasn't careful and Clint did not want to burst a blood vessel in his brain. No matter what people thought about his antics as Hawkeye, he was not suicidal or stupid.

Bruce wasn't exactly being his usual self though. He was somehow flustered and not as at ease with Clint as normal. Bruce wasn't a good liar, Clint already knew that, and he wasn't great at hiding things either. It didn't take him long to work out that probably Bruce was awkward because there was something that he was hiding from Clint. Most likely it was something else that would trigger an even worse headache, so Clint was inclined to leave him to his secret. His head was still faintly pulsing with the pain of his earlier episode. Bruce had already handed him his sunglasses, and asked if he wanted more painkillers, but he really didn't want to impair his already fuzzy senses more.

Erica smoothly took over from Bruce and handed Clint a StarkPod. It was another one of Tony's far superior takes on other people's technology and was probably one of his spares that had been lying around somewhere in the Tower. Clint had his own, which would be in his apartment, but Tony had so much tech that he hardly bothered to keep track of his older pieces at all (and by "older" Tony meant last week's model).

"What's this for?" he asked.

"We need to give you a framework so that you can control your unwanted thoughts and hopefully have less severe episodes of pain," said Bruce. "Erica's come up with some ideas that we think might work."

"Music is good at producing strong associations with memories," explained Erica. "I want you to select some music to listen to, preferably an artist or album that you've never heard before. It should also be something that currently has no obvious associations for you. Five or six songs."

"I don't understand how this is going to help us catch…" he stopped himself before he got any further in that sentence. There was the headache again, and of course all of the painkilling effects of whatever Bruce had shot him full of, were gone. "Damn." He winced and Bruce saw it.

"Clint, please at least take something," said Bruce. He reached for the bottle of pills that, until now, Clint hadn't noticed were sat on the bedside table. Clint held his hand out wordlessly and grudgingly allowed Bruce to shake a couple of the painkillers into his palm. He downed them gratefully (whilst trying to pretend that he didn't need them) with the glass of water that he was handed next.

"Okay, no more talking until you've got your music selected," said Erica. "Then at least we'll have a chance of putting into practice your new distraction techniques."

Clint sighed and did what she asked, because they apparently weren't going to tell him anything until he'd performed this dumb task. He tapped at the buttons on the device feeling stupid that he was doing something so mundane whilst there were bad guys out there that, by rights, he should have been chasing.

"Done," he said and looked over at Erica.

"I asked you to select music that you'd never heard before because you're more likely to expend mental energy on a new song than something that you know. We're now going to start associating songs with new, neutral memories. If you have an unwanted thought then you can think of the image or listen to the music, and it should help you to control the pain. You may find it helpful to listen to the music continuously and start associating songs with new memories as they happen. You can then build a play list of songs associated with strong, pain free memories." Erica had some cards in her hands that appeared to have pictures on them. "When you've gone through all these cards and associated them all with songs, then we'll talk about some of the things that happened today." She moved very swiftly on from those words, so much so that Clint hardly caught them at all. "Press play and let's get started."

Clint really wanted to argue, and find out exactly what was going on, so he hesitated.

Bruce seemed to understand this, because he stopped fiddling with Clint's notes and came over to join them. He looked him directly in the eyes. "Clint, all the Avengers are safe."

Clint let out a long breath. "Been practicing your mindreading skills again, Bruce?"

Bruce gave a small shrug. "I like to think that I've gotten to know you a bit over the last few weeks."

"Okay," said Clint. "In that case, let's get this show on the road because I am not staying in the Infirmary forever."

Erica gave him a warm smile and handed him the cards, each with a stylised picture on it. She then took him through memorising each one whilst listening to music, until he'd done them all.

"Can we test this out now?" he asked, a little impatiently.

Bruce and Erica exchanged a look.

"We do need to see if it's working," said Erica.

Bruce didn't exactly look happy, but he nodded in agreement.

Erica continued. "Put your headphones in and set the volume to something that you can still hear us talk over. Make sure you focus on the music and images if it gets too much. We'll stop talking if things become painful."

Clint put in his headphones and started the music. "I'm ready."

Bruce sat down on the end of Clint's bed and he could see that he was watching him carefully as he spoke for any signs of discomfort. "Maybe we should fill you in on some things that have been happening around here. First of all, you were right about Viper poisoning the blade that she stabbed Thor with. We're just waiting for him to come out of surgery, but the doctors seemed to think the wound wasn't life threatening."

For a moment Clint almost found himself dwelling on Viper and her involvement with Loki, but the music pulled him back to the present before the headache could begin. He focussed on the image of the flower that was on the first card that went with the track now playing.

He felt confident enough in his ability to stay in control that he asked a question. "What about the effects of the poison?"

"We still don't know exactly how it will affect him, but the doctors had the anti-venin and were already administering it when he went in for surgery. I'm willing to bet that Asgardian physiology is tougher than human physiology so I expect he'll be fine."

"Good," said Clint. "Who's gone after her?"

Bruce hesitated before he answered. "Natasha and Steve. Tony's program coughed up an address for a lobbying firm that Jarvis thinks is tied to Hydra somehow. It's called the Lerna Group."

Clint frowned. That sounded familiar but he couldn't probe the memory because it would probably lead to more pain. So far everything he remembered about Viper had hurt, and he was now having to actively deploy the technique that he'd just learnt in order to keep the pain at bay.

"Do we know why she and Hydra are gunning for us?" he asked.

This time Bruce didn't just hesitate, he looked away. "Tony has a theory."

"A theory? What kind of theory?"

"I'm not sure that we should talk about it right now…"

"Something to do with Loki?" asked Clint, becoming more animated. He was not going to be kept in the dark any longer. He was so tired of being tiptoed around and given half-truths. He examined Bruce's eyes for any indication that he was near the right answer, but the doctor still wasn't looking directly at him.

"It might be better to wait…" Bruce began.

"Why? I can cope with this, Bruce. Admittedly I'm humming this stupid tune whilst you talk, but it is working, so why won't you just give it to me straight? I already know that I recruited Viper for Loki and that she's a Hydra agent." He paused, waiting for Bruce to say something, anything, but he didn't. His continued refusal to talk was making Clint very suspicious. "Is this something to do with me? Is she after me?"

The rapid snapping round of Bruce's head told him that he'd hit the target dead centre. Looks were being exchanged between Bruce and Erica, and they weren't particularly reassuring.

"Shit," said Clint, with feeling. "All of this was to get to me. She's trying to kill me, isn't she?"

"Tony seems to think so, yes," said Bruce. "And given the evidence, the rest of us agreed."

Clint groaned, not out of pain, but frustration. For once he'd hoped that this wasn't about him and his time as Loki's minion. Steve was the one with the history with Hydra.

"Clint, are you okay?" asked Bruce.

"No, Bruce, I am not okay, but I also don't have a headache." He threw off the blanket that was currently covering his lower half, and started on the tape that held the IV in his arm.

"Clint, don't take that out…" started Erica, but he'd already done it before she could finish.

He stuffed the StarkPod into his pants pocket, one of the headphones still in his ear and threw his legs over the side of the bed.

"You're not ready to be up and about yet," said Bruce, getting to his feet and holding up his hands in a placatory gesture, as if he could will Clint back into bed. "You promised me that you'd listen to what I said when I took on your medical care."

"I know, Doc, and I'm sorry but I need to go and sort this out. She's coming after all of you to get to me and I'm not going to let you fight my battles for me," said Clint. "I just need a clear view to take her down." He put his feet on the floor and wobbled. He had enough time to think "_oh crap"_, before he remembered that Bruce had sedated him earlier and there was apparently just enough still in his system to mess with his balance as he got up. Bruce and Erica barely had time to grab him before he toppled over, and then manhandle him back onto the bed.

"Okay, maybe just a little longer," he conceded, as he flopped back on the bed feeling a lot worse than he had a moment ago. "There really was a reason that I said I was going to listen to you, wasn't there?"

Bruce gave him a long suffering smile. "Yes, there really was." He got out some sterile cotton wool from one of the cabinets around the room, and pressed it to the dribble of blood on Clint's arm where the IV needle had been.

"Clint, it's great that this working," said Erica, "but we need to monitor your progress and make sure that it keeps working."

"And I don't need to remind you that you're also grounded until the SHIELD psychiatrists sign off on you," said Bruce.

Clint just fixed him with a look. "I know, but I should be the one to take Viper down."

"Are you really telling me that Natasha and Steve can't handle a Hydra agent?" asked Bruce. "Because I don't want to be anywhere near Natasha when she hears that you thought she couldn't manage it, especially with Captain America as her backup."

Clint grimaced. He did not want to get on Natasha's bad side and Bruce made a good point. He let out a defeated sigh. "Okay, you're right. They can handle it."

Bruce finished up cleaning the needle wound on Clint's arm, attaching a plaster across the small hole left by the IV. "Right, if you're careful, I think we might manage to help you to your apartment. As long as you promise to rest once we get you there and no going up to the roof until tomorrow."

Erica nodded in agreement and the two doctors positioned themselves to, more cautiously this time, help Clint up. He wasn't going to turn down the offer of escaping the much hated domain of the doctors, so he put his feet on the floor and leant on Bruce and Erica until he felt more stable. He was able to get to his apartment under his own power, but the two doctors hovered nearby in case he started to feel dizzy again. They got him to his own dark purple couch and made sure he was settled there before Erica took her leave. Bruce decided to hang around a little longer before heading back to the lab, to give Tony more time to finish his brainstorming session.

Clint appreciated the gesture; he usually preferred to be on his own but right now he felt strangely vulnerable. The weakness left over from the sedative was still affecting his body and he knew there was at least one person actively trying to kill him. That wasn't really an unusual occurrence in his line of work, but the circumstances surrounding this particular incident were. However, he was definitely more comfortable in his own apartment than he as in the infirmary. No one would barge in on him here without at least knocking first, and he had enough weapons around him to calm his need to protect himself.

Just as Bruce and Clint were about to settle down to watch a film, Bruce's phone beeped at him and he answered it. As he spoke, at first business-like and then more quickly, in clipped tones, his expression changed. When he hung up, he was in a hurry.

"Well, the good news is that Thor's surgery went well. The bad news is that Thor's awake and I think he may be about to destroy the recovery suite. I've got to go and deal with this, but I'll be back later to check on you. Sorry, Clint."

"You don't need to apologise. Go and save the medical staff."

Bruce ran from the room, leaving Clint to his convalescence. For a moment he considered sitting on the couch and relaxing. It was just a moment though. That really wasn't him. Now that he knew what was going on, he had to do something.

"Jarvis, give me a list of flights to Washington DC leaving tonight, and don't let anyone know that I'm asking."

"Yes, Agent Barton," replied Jarvis. "What time would be the earliest that you would consider travelling?"

* * *

Bruce left Clint's apartment rapidly, already feeling bad for leaving the archer on his own. Sometimes Clint just screamed vulnerability and with him injured and unsure on his feet, this was one of those times. It was hard not to want to stay longer to make sure he rested properly. However, he was the de facto medical liaison between the Avengers and the medical team, and both now needed him.

"Jarvis, tell Tony what's happening. I think I'm going to need the backup with Thor."

"Yes, Doctor Banner," replied Jarvis. "Sir is on his way."

Apparently Thor had come out of the surgery well, and the doctors were happy with his progress. They had called to give Bruce the overview of the treatment that he'd received, mainly stitching up the wound and repairing damaged internal organs. He had almost begun healing as they watched and once the anti-venin was begun, the rate of healing actually improved. Unfortunately he'd also begun to come around from the anaesthetic, and at that point all hell had broken loose in the recovery room. This had happened about halfway through their discussion with Bruce, hence the rapid change of tone and quick exit.

Bruce arrived to find one very angry Norse God of Thunder and a lot of frightened medical staff. He briefly had time to wonder why he was always the one to get stuck with calming down the crazy people, and then he was confronted with Thor shouting about how he was a Prince of Asgard. He was dressed in a hospital gown and waving a chair around, something which was not recommended in his current state.

"Thor!" shouted Bruce. "Calm down, you're in Avengers Tower and you've just been treated for a stab wound. That's all. No one's attacking you."

"These people stabbed me with needles!" shouted Thor.

"I know," said Bruce, as the medical staff made a quick exit upon seeing Bruce take charge of the situation. "That's one of the ways that we treat injuries here on Midgard."

Tony appeared in the doorway, breathless after running up from his lab. "Hey, Point Break, I guess you're feeling better."

Thor put the chair down and frowned. He leaned on the chair, definitely not exactly up to full strength yet.

"Why do I feel this way? I am weak and my vision spins," said Thor.

"Oh hell," said Tony.

"We need to get you back to bed," said Bruce. "It's either the anaesthetic wearing off or the anti-venin. Viper poisoned you when she stabbed you."

"Poison is a coward's weapon," said Thor, as the leaning became more like a fall. Tony got to him just as he was about to topple over, and Bruce was mere seconds behind. He had a sudden moment of déjà vu. It had only been slightly over an hour since he'd been helping Clint back to his bed. Two injured Avengers was not a good state of affairs.

Tony and Bruce managed to get Thor back onto his bed, and the demi-god lay back with a groan. Bruce noticed that, of course, Thor had pulled out his IV line, which had been dispensing the anti-venin. He sighed, wondering if Clint and Thor had compared notes before today on the best ways to disrupt their medical care when sick or injured.

"Thor, I need to put this needle back in your arm. It's giving you medicine that you need to combat the poison's affects," said Bruce.

Thor actually looked paler, as he noticed the needle in Bruce's hand. "I do not like these Midgardian needles that you insist on using in your healing rooms." Who would have guessed that the God of Thunder was scared of needles?

"It's okay, goldilocks, just a scratch and it's in. Then you can forget it exists and concentrate on getting your strength back. Right, Bruce?" said Tony, in a surprisingly helpful manner.

Bruce nodded. "Yes, it's nothing to worry about. You do know that you can trust us, don't you? We'd never do anything to hurt you."

"I know, my friends," said Thor. "It is just that these things are strange to me. I awoke and saw strangers at my bedside with unfamiliar things in their hands. My first thought was that we were under some kind of attack."

"Of course," said Bruce. "But they were just trying to help you. They're the ones who patched up your wound. Normally we'd have got your consent before we carried out any medical procedures, but it was an emergency and you were unconscious."

"I appreciate their efforts," said Thor, more graciously. "Very well, put the needle into my arm and give me the medicine that you say I need to deal with the Viper's poison."

Bruce nodded and got down to the business of re-siting the IV line and stopping the bleeding from where the first IV had been pulled out. More déjà vu from Clint's earlier premature escape attempt.

"What has happened whilst I've been asleep?" asked Thor.

"Well, Steve and Natasha have gone on a field trip to DC to see if they can track down your poisonous friend and her boss, whoever that may be. Jarvis finally found a money connection to Hydra and traced if back a company called the Lerna Group. Bruce and I have got our own science fair project to play with that we're hoping will help us work out what's wrong with Clint's head. He clearly needs it examined, and has for a while now," said Tony.

"Tony," said Bruce, with a roll of his eyes. "Just stick to the facts."

"Why? The facts are so dull," said Tony.

"You're going to confuse Thor," said Bruce, pointedly.

"I am not confused," said Thor. "The need for more information on Clint's medical condition has been known for some time. If this "science fair project" will help, then you must continue."

Bruce gave Tony a long hard look. "See what you've done now?"

Tony sighed. "Look, the important thing is that we're working on a machine that will help Clint, hopefully. Although Erica has come up with some plan involving Clint listening to music which should help with the headaches too, but we'll see. It's all a load of pseudoscience crap if you ask me. Anyway, he's resting in his apartment now. Which I think brings you up to date on everything…"

Tony looked questioningly at Bruce, but the doctor couldn't think of anything to add. He was also registering that Tony must have been watching the security video feed from the infirmary, because he hadn't actually had time to tell him anything about what Erica's distraction tactics involved.

"Then there is much to be done," said Thor.

"Yes, but right now you need to rest and get better," said Bruce. He finished inserting the needle into Thor's arm and taped it down. "This anti-venin probably won't make you feel great, but it's better than dying from the effects of viper venom."

"Agreed," said Thor. "When I am strong again, we will deal with this snake-woman."

"Assuming that Natasha and Steve don't get her first," pointed out Tony.

"Then we will toast their victory," said Thor. He looked tired, and Bruce remembered that he had actually lost a fair bit of blood. No one on Earth would have been a compatible match, so there had been no possibility of a transfusion. They were just going to have to wait for him to replace the lost blood himself. A human probably would have died under similar circumstances, but Thor was not human.

"I know Clint will," said Bruce. "He knows that Viper was trying to kill him and you got caught in the cross-fire."

"How did he take it?" asked Tony.

Bruce shrugged. "He wanted to jump up and go join Natasha and Steve. Erica and I explained that it wasn't a good idea. He's still got the sedative that I gave him in his system, so he's a bit groggy, and we need to make sure that the coping strategy that Erica's given him is actually working."

Thor's good mood evaporated. "Indeed, he should not be the one to hunt down this woman."

Tony checked his watch. "Natasha and Steve should check in soon, to let us know how things are going in DC. I've got to get back to work and I could use Bruce's help. If everyone's stopped threatening to electrocute my staff, of course."

Thor closed his eyes. "I will rest here until your medicine has done its work, and return to the fight with renewed vigour."

"Good idea, Sparky. Give Jarvis a shout if you need anything," said Tony, heading towards the door.

Bruce followed him, and Thor was already snoring as they left the room.

"How's Legolas doing?" asked Tony, as they got into the corridor.

"Somewhat annoyed that he isn't allowed to run off after Natasha and Steve, but otherwise he's doing as well as can be expected," said Bruce. "Incidentally, if I find out that you've been listening in to private medical conversations again then the Hulk will be having words with your car collection."

Tony huffed. "Really? You're going to get all bent out of shape just because I wanted to know what you and Erica had cooked up to help out Clint?"

"Tony, we might have been discussing something private. Something that Clint didn't want anyone to know about," said Bruce. "Promise me that you won't do it again. Please. It's been hard enough to get him to trust me as a doctor without you ruining it all."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Fine, I won't do it again. Jarvis, lock down the footage from the medical suite's security cameras. No one other than Doctor Banner or Captain Rogers has security clearance to access medical footage of members of the Avengers Initiative.

"Understood, sir," replied Jarvis.

"Satisfied?" asked Tony.

Bruce nodded. He knew that there would have to be two of them with access and Steve was the obvious other choice. Neither of them would abuse the privilege. Tony just couldn't resist and had a thirst for knowledge, which included personal details if they were available. He knew that he'd already read all their SHIELD files.

"Okay, we've got work to do, and I need your help with some gamma radiation calculations. The last thing I want to do is fry Clint's brain any more than it already is," said Tony.

"Sure, lead the way," said Bruce.

The two men took the elevator down to the labs and spent the next few hours working on the scanner. They stopped to talk to Natasha and Steve when they checked in, who had made it to DC and already done some planning for the following day's surveillance, but resumed work again after that. They had fallen easily into working together again and it was early morning before Bruce decided that he really should go and check on Clint, and then actually get some sleep. Tony might be able to run on coffee and solder fumes, but Bruce couldn't.

He took the elevator to Clint and Natasha's floor, and stepped out, turning towards the black door with the purple bow and arrow symbol on it. He pressed the bell and waited for the click that would mean that Clint had given Jarvis the okay to unlock the door. He continued to wait and nothing happened. It was quite late, but Clint still wasn't sleeping unless someone was with him so he hadn't really expected him to be asleep.

"Jarvis, is Agent Barton sleeping?" asked Bruce.

"Agent Barton is not currently in the Tower, Doctor Banner," said Jarvis.

Bruce felt something icy grip at his insides. "Is he on the roof?"

"No, sir. Agent Barton left via the garage exit approximately five hours ago."

"Shit," said Bruce. Hawkeye could do a lot in five hours and none of it would be good for his current state of health. "Jarvis put me through to Tony."

"Yes, Doctor Banner."

"Tony, we have a problem. Our hawk has flown the nest."


	16. Chapter 16

Assembled We Are Strong

AN: Reviewers, you are loved.

I wasn't quite expecting this fic to be as long as this, but Hawkeye wanted his revenge on Viper and we still have a fair bit of ground to cover before the end. This chapter sees Tony acting like a child, Steve getting an unwanted wakeup call, and Clint performs a pop song medley.

* * *

"I can't believe he ran out on us," said Tony. He was pacing backwards and forwards in the Common Room. Bruce was stood watching him, his glasses in one hand and his other arm across his chest. Pepper had been awoken and was sat with a StarkPad in her hands, tapping away to extract information.

"It's my fault, I should have expected it," said Bruce.

Tony shot him a look that conveyed the contempt in which he held that remark. "Why would any of us have expected this? He's officially grounded and you told him yourself that Natasha and Steve could handle it."

"Okay, so we know that Jarvis didn't book a ticket for him, even though he asked him for flight times," said Pepper. "So he has to have booked it himself, and he'd need ID, but he'd never use his own, because, well, he's an Agent of SHIELD."

"He's trained to disappear, we won't find him by looking at airplane manifests," said Tony, dismissively. He knew Pepper was just trying to help, but right now he was stressed and snapping at people because of it.

"Really?" said Pepper. "I don't know about you, but I think Orlando Greenleaf might be the kind of pseudonym Clint would use just to annoy Tony. Especially if he wasn't that bothered if we found him."

"Orlando Greenleaf?" asked Bruce.

"Orlando Bloom played Legolas in Lord of the Rings," said Tony. "Greenleaf is the English translation of Legolas."

Bruce just gave Tony a bemused look.

"What? I also read books sometimes," said Tony. "Apparently Hawkeye does too."

"Which flight?" asked Bruce.

"It looks like he was on the 9pm. It landed just after 10pm in DC," said Pepper.

"So he's already been in DC for what? Four hours? Natasha is going to kill us, and Steve is going to give us one of those disappointed looks that he does, which to be honest, is almost worse. Dibs on not having to tell the Black Widow that we lost her boyfriend," said Tony, raising a hand.

"You really are a child, Tony," said Pepper. "Natasha and Steve need to know that Clint's in town. Jarvis, please put a call through to Captain Rogers."

"Yes, Miss Potts," said Jarvis. "I shall put them through to the conference room."

Tony wanted to tell Jarvis to cancel the call, but Pepper was right, the others needed to know. He sighed, hung his head in defeat for a couple of seconds and then walked, liked the condemned man that he was, to the conference room. Bruce followed behind him, equally reluctant. An image of Steve soon appeared on the glass display on the wall. He looked as if he'd just woken up, which he probably had given that it was now nearly 3am.

"Tony, Bruce, you do know what time it is? What's the problem?"

"Hawkeye," said Tony. "He decided to sneak out and hop on a plane to DC."

"What?" asked Steve. "He was unconscious a few hours ago. What would possess him to put himself in danger like that?"

"We told you earlier about finding a way to help him control his headaches," said Bruce. "We filled him in on Viper's target being, well, him, and I think he felt guilty that you were taking the risk of going after her without him."

Steve sighed, and rubbed a hand across his face. "I'll wake Natasha. She is not going to be happy about this."

"I'll put the suit on and be with you in twenty minutes," said Tony.

Steve shook his head. "The mission hasn't changed, and Iron Man showing up isn't going to help us maintain our cover. No, the best thing you can do is stay there and keep working. We'll track down Clint and put him on a plane back to New York. He won't be happy but at least he'll be safe. We'll check in tomorrow and let you know how it's going."

Tony was not happy about being told to sit on his hands again, but Steve did have a point. If he flew in as Iron Man now, he'd pretty much be shouting out that the Avengers had business in DC and then the Lerna Group would be on the alert.

"Fine, we'll wait for your call," said Tony, and stifled a yawn.

"When did you last get some sleep?" asked Steve.

"Oh, I don't know, last night, probably," said Tony. He actually wasn't sure how long he'd been up for now. He was easily as bad as Clint for insomnia when he had a project on.

"We were on our way to bed when I found out that Clint was missing," said Bruce.

"Good, then go and get some sleep. You two have done enough for one night," said Steve and the screen went blank.

"He is really, really pissed off," said Tony. Steve normally left the cutting remarks to Tony.

"Yup," said Bruce, which in Tony's opinion was less than helpful.

"You know I was Iron Man for a while before you guys came along, and I did just fine without Steve Rogers telling me what to do," said Tony, annoyed now.

"Yes, and you nearly died, from what Pepper and Natasha said," pointed out Bruce.

Tony scowled. Did everyone know about the palladium poisoning incident? He'd really had enough for one day. Why couldn't Clint have just sat tight and let them help him? The archer had absolutely no self-preservation instinct.

"I am going to bed," said Tony, suddenly feeling all the hours that he'd been awake hit him.

"Good idea," said Bruce.

Tony stopped mid action. He could see Pepper talking on the phone to someone. She was stood in the Common Room outside the conference room and he wondered who it was. Who on Earth would she be calling at this time of night? He ignored Bruce and opened the door to hear Pepper saying:

"I wish you'd just come home. Tony and Bruce are really worried," she looked over at Tony as he exited the conference room.

"Is that him?" he asked incredulously. "Is that actually Hawkeye?" He snatched the phone from her hand. "Bird brain, get your ass back to New York now, before I come down there and get you myself."

There was a familiar chuckle from the other end. "Oh, so you finally noticed that Pepper was talking to me? Took you long enough, Tony," said Clint.

Tony looked at Pepper, holding the phone away from him for a moment. "You called _him_?"

Pepper shrugged. "Neither of you even considered that he might actually just answer his phone."

Tony put the phone back to his ear. "Legolas, I don't give a shit what you think you're doing, but I do care about you getting yourself killed because you thought it would be fun to go up against a woman who basically took down the God of Thunder. Bruce and I have gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that your brain doesn't kill you; it would be polite of you to not commit suicide."

"Tony, I appreciate everything that you and Bruce have done, but I have to do this. Otherwise I'm just hiding in the Tower, avoiding stuff that gives me headaches. I need to finish this. I need to be Hawkeye," said Clint, and Tony really did know what he meant, because sometimes he had to be Iron Man and defend what was his. Clint had been actively avoiding everything that made him Hawkeye and he couldn't even begin to understand how hard that must have been for him.

He sighed. "Steve and Natasha know that you're in DC, and you know that they _will_ find you."

"Yeah, I'm kind of counting on it," said Clint. "The Lerna Group building looks like it might be pretty well guarded and I could use some backup."

"Clint, don't even think about it," said Tony.

"Too late," said Clint, on the other end of the phone. "I know that you'll drag me back to New York if I don't do this tonight. Nice chatting to you, Tony."

The line went dead.

Tony looked at the phone with disbelief. He threw it across the room, where it shattered on the floor. "I am going to kill him! Assuming that the asshole doesn't kill himself first."

"Tony, that was my phone," said Pepper, definitely not amused.

Bruce had also emerged from the conference room and was looking a bit confused.

"Jarvis, order Pepper a new phone, to be delivered as soon as it's available. Until it arrives, divert all her calls to mine," he said, somewhat distractedly. He took out his own phone and handed it to Pepper. She took it, looking at him a little strangely.

"Yes, sir," said Jarvis.

"Then get hold of Steve again and tell him that Clint is planning an assault on the Lerna Building tonight, now in fact," said Tony. "I'll need the Mark Ten, J."

"Very well, sir," said Jarvis. "You may want to note that the Mark Ten's final sensor programming was put on hold last week and you haven't worked on it since that time."

Tony had forgotten that, he'd been a bit preoccupied. "There's always something. Okay, transfer the Mark Nine's program for now. I'll fix it on the fly."

"What just happened?" asked Bruce.

"Clint is about to do something very, very stupid," said Tony, and suddenly remembered something. "Jarvis, did Agent Barton take his new bow, arrows and quiver from the armoury? The one I just finished?"

"Yes, sir. And the tracking device in his new bow is currently functioning," said Jarvis.

"Finally some good luck. Put his location on screen and let our fearless leader know," said Tony, grabbing his spare armour homing bracelets from a draw in the kitchen area. He put them on with a couple of swift movements. "Pepper, I'm going out to rescue Clint from his own idiocy. Don't wait up. Hit me, J."

A previously invisible trapdoor opened in the floor, and the Mark Ten flew out of the opening, locking on to Tony's bracelets. It moulded itself around his body until he was completely encased in the armour.

"Please be careful, Tony," said Pepper.

"Don't worry, I'll call Steve again for backup when I'm nearly there," said Tony. "Are you coming, Bruce? It turns out we might need the Hulk in DC."

Bruce gave an affirmative gesture. "I need to let Thor know what's going on. I'll get SHIELD to send me a Quinjet and depending on how quickly Asgardians heal, Thor might be well enough to ride along."

"Just don't tell SHIELD why you want to get to DC. If they find out that Clint is out with his weapons then his career with them is over," said Tony.

"I know, and I'd already thought of that. We'll come up with something. Now go, we'll catch you up." Bruce made an ushering motion.

One of the floor to ceiling windows retracted into the floor. The Common Room had been set up with something like this scenario in mind. Jarvis was quick off the mark and already anticipating Tony's next move. Iron Man nodded at Bruce, and then took off into the sky, heading for Washington DC.

* * *

The Lerna Building was mostly dark, but there were lights at various locations on the high-rise. This building was nowhere near as tall as some of the skyscrapers in New York that Clint had been used to recently. He'd spent some time working out the best ways to climb them during a stint on the rooftop of Avengers Tower one night when he should have been trying to sleep but wasn't. This one had been pretty easy in comparison. All Clint had needed to do was climb a fire escape on a neighbouring building and now he stood with an arrow nocked, ready to fly a grappling arrow and line across to the roof of the Lerna Building.

He aimed carefully, one of his earphones still in his ear. One of the catchy songs that he'd picked from the list that Erica had given him (a list of what were all, probably, catchy, annoying songs) was keeping him from dwelling on the identity of the woman that he was after. He was using it as a distraction to keep him grounded on the mechanical actions of what he was doing, but damn, it was annoying. He hadn't even liked this song to begin with, and now it was reaching a new level of hatred for him. As soon as he'd dealt with Viper he was going to have to pick some new ones.

He hummed. "We're up all night 'til the sun. We're up all night to get some…"

He breathed out and released the arrow, watching it hit its target, as he'd known that it would. It was good to be back in the field even if he wasn't actually here in an official capacity. The adrenaline had been flowing ever since he'd snuck out of the Tower and, for the first time in a while, he felt alive.

"We're up all night for good fun. We're up all night to get lucky…"

The line payed out behind the arrow, and he gave it a tug to check that the arrow had dug in well to its target surface. It felt sturdy, so he tied off the lightweight rope on a metal strut and checked his angle of descent onto the slightly lower roof of the building that he was aiming for. It looked good, so he took a deep breath, slung his bow over his shoulder and put the karabiner on the line. He stepped off into space, clinging onto the slider as he sped down onto the roof of the Lerna Building. He landed perfectly, dropping into a forward roll to take the momentum out of the fall.

He had missed this so much. This was what he was born to do, and it might be dangerous, but it was also exciting. He glanced around his scenery and took in every potential spot to take cover and which might be used as cover against him. He noted that there were no threats and the location of the door into the building. He moved fluidly, making as little noise as possible on the gravel covered surface.

He'd pulled the blueprints from the SHIELD files which Natasha had used when she was checking out the same building, and memorised the floor plans. His memory had been trained over many years to be as sharp and well exercised as the rest of his body, and this hadn't been a particularly difficult feat. He'd seen the same void that Natasha had picked up and that was his target for this evening. He was hoping that Viper would come out to play, but if she didn't then he needed more information on how to find her.

He could now think about her without causing himself pain, but if he probed further at what she and Loki had discussed or anything else, then his head would send him sharp signals of pain. He was still limited in how much of his memories of her he could retrieve. Thinking about her love of poison had nearly been enough to send him into unconsciousness when he was back at the Tower, but now he found himself still humming along to this annoyingly jangly pop song to dissociate his painful memories from their original generator.

"We've come too far," he hummed along quietly, "to give up who we are."

He'd listened to all of these songs on such a tight loop, that even the ones that he'd liked when he'd picked them, he was now fed up with. Still, the earworm quality was what he needed and it didn't matter whether he liked them as long as they kept his brain occupied enough. So far it was working.

He picked the lock of the roof door. He opened it and he stepped through onto the stairs down into the building interior, checking carefully for any booby traps or sensors as he did so. He couldn't see any, which didn't mean that there weren't any, simply that they were unavoidable. Opening the door might have triggered something, although he couldn't detect anything.

He took the stairs down two at a time. He had to get in and out quickly now, not least because Natasha and Steve would know where he was by now and would be coming to find him. Tony and Bruce had actually given him slightly longer than he thought they would. Natasha wouldn't hang around and she knew every single one of his best tricks for breaking and entering. She'd be up on the roof soon and then she'd find his arrow and line, a great big neon sign for her to work out how he'd entered the building.

It was dark in the stairwell but he knew the layout well enough that it wasn't a problem. He also had good night vision, which was coming in useful now as he located the floor that he needed. The door to this level had a coded access pad, but he'd bypassed enough of these in his time that he could do it in his sleep. He pulled the front panel off and after a few seconds of reconnecting wires, he'd hotwired it. The door clicked open.

He checked the corridor and slipped through soundlessly, his fingers lightly tapping out the rhythm of the closing bars of "Get Lucky" on the shaft of his bow without a sound.

He could see a camera, and pulled the wire that connected it to the wall just as P!nk's "Trouble" started up on his headphones. Hopefully no one would notice the camera wasn't working or just assume that it was a malfunction. It was a bit clumsier than his usual style, but he was in a hurry.

He wasn't expecting what he found, but apparently everyone else in the building was. He entered a large room, it was dark but lights flickered on as he carefully closed the door behind him.

"Damn, I couldn't just sit at home and let someone else handle this," he muttered. He turned around to face Viper, who stood watching him along with half her army of goons. They wore the emblem of Hydra, and had their faces covered with masks as they had done in the parking lot the previous day.

"Hawkeye, good to see you again," said Viper. "I was quite surprised that you hadn't come looking for me before now. In fact I was expecting the good Captain and your friend, the Black Widow, but this is much, much better. Take him down."

Clint smiled, this was going to be fun. He hadn't had a decent fight in a while. He took the first two out with a couple of swiftly fired and well-placed arrows as they moved towards him. He was probably the only person in the world who could have managed to get two shots off before his range was too short to fire again.

"If you see me coming down your street, then you know that it's time to go. Well I've got trouble now," P!nk sang in his ear.

"You're not wrong," he said to the singer, as the others closed on him. He took up a hand to hand combat stance, and the bravest of the attackers made their move. He used his bow to take down another, using it as a fighting staff to get in a couple of deadly blows to his next opponent. He dodged down and kicked out at the one who had been coming round his back.

A swift series of punches and counter hits from his bow followed. Even though he was outnumbered, he still wasn't having much trouble. He'd trained with Natasha and Captain America; compared to that this wasn't even causing him to break a sweat. He broke a nose with his elbow as another one tried to come round behind him and heard a reassuring crunch as he did so. He now had two bodies and a couple of seriously injured men lying at his feet. He wasn't worried for a moment that he could deal with the remaining five, who were all looking a bit more hesitant now.

He felt a sharp stab in the skin of his neck, and reached up to feel a dart. He pulled it out and looked for its source. Viper stood watching the fight with sharp green eyes and a dart gun in her hand.

"Crap," said Clint. His vision began to blur, and then one of the goons got in a lucky punch. It sent Clint to the floor, and his limbs were too sluggish to push himself back to his feet. He tried again, and eventually managed to make it to his knees, blinking heavily.

"Sorry, Hawkeye, but I did think that we might have trouble with you. I worked with you, remember. Your plan to destroy the SHIELD Helicarrier was almost perfect. I'm still surprised that you failed. I can only assume that Loki's control of you wasn't as complete as he made out," said Viper, kneeling down beside him. She pulled the headphones out from his ears, leaving him in silence. She put one to her ear, perhaps expecting it to be a com line. She smiled as she heard the music. "Very appropriate. You are trouble, Hawkeye. Too much trouble."

She located the StarkPod tucked under his body armour and stood, crushing it under her foot. He tried not to grimace at the loss of the device. He knew the songs well enough that he could replay them in his head. It just worked better with the music on.

"Yeah, wait 'til you meet my friends," Clint ground out, having difficulty even forming the words with the effects of the drug tugging at his lucidity. "There's a reason we're called the Avengers."

"The intention isn't to kill you, Hawkeye. Not yet anyway. Mr Lerna thinks that you might be of use to us. I admit I advocated for your immediate death. I still think you're too dangerous to keep around, especially as you're remembering more every day. It really was only a matter of time, which is why you will still have to die. But your head is also full of very interesting information that would help our cause. The added bonus is that you'll bring the others to us, and Mr Lerna is very much looking forward to meeting them."

She looked around at the remaining goons that were still standing. "Move him, we need to be out of here before the others come for him."

It was about that point that Clint's body gave up the fight against whatever drug Viper had used and he fell into unconsciousness, cursing his own stupidity. Usually he could spot a trap a mile away, but this one had taken him in completely. Even Natasha hadn't seen it for what it was when she left New York. This wasn't boding well for any rescue attempts succeeding or even Natasha and Steve getting out alive.

* * *

AN2: There is a good reason Clint is listening to P!nk in this chapter and that's because Jeremy Renner is in the video as the bad guy sheriff. It's also very catchy. There is no reason for him listening to Daft Punk's "Get Lucky", it is just catchy and easy to sing along to. Honestly, I can't get it out of my head now. Argh.


	17. Chapter 17

Assembled We Are Strong

Chapter 17

AN: Apologies for the huge number of typos in the previous chapter, hopefully I've sorted them all now. This story is unbeta-ed so all mistakes are my own, and although I do my best to catch them, they do slip through sometimes.

In this chapter Natasha finds new places to hide her weapons, Mr Stark goes to Washington, Steve hides behind Tony, Thor struggles to keep up and Clint continues his rendition of modern pop hits.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. Your comments are much appreciated.

* * *

When Steve woke her, Natasha was definitely worried. Now that she'd heard exactly what Clint was planning and where he was, she was more than worried. She was suiting up and packing every single weapon that they'd brought with them. Steve had no idea where she put them all, although he swore that a knife went into the cast on her broken arm. She'd already discarded one of her Widow's Bite with a sigh because it wouldn't fit around the cast.

"Natasha, just stop for a moment," said Steve. "Slow down and help me out here. How would Clint go about breaking into this building?"

Natasha didn't exactly slow down, but she did talk as she checked her guns. "He'll have the same blueprints that we did and know about the area that we identified. He'll have worked out the weak points of the building and executed a plan to gain entry. Since this is Clint he'll have gone for the highest point, most likely the roof. A lot of buildings don't think about someone using the roof entrance to break in because it's too inaccessible. That's rarely a problem for Clint."

Steve nodded. "Okay, so we can go in the same way."

Natasha shook her head. "Clint will have all the equipment to do it, and he has a very particular skill set. We weren't planning on entering that way so I don't have what we'd need, or his aim. We're going to have to pick a different way in."

"But you have an idea?" asked Steve.

Natasha smiled a dangerous smile. "Of course. I have since I looked at the plans. I just would have preferred time to get the lie of the land and the basic security patrol schedules."

"Me too, but Clint hasn't left us many options. So let's hear it." Steve strapped his shield to his back and checked his own weapons.

Natasha nodded. "There's a window, not visible from the street, that we should be able to access. It will be alarmed and I'll have to disable that before we go in, but it shouldn't be hard."

"Okay, then we head for the room that didn't show up on the blueprints," said Steve.

"Yes, that's where he'll be going," said Natasha. "Or we just listen for the sound of gunfire, either should work where Hawkeye is concerned."

They left their hotel and ran the entire distance to the Lerna Building. He was impressed that Natasha could keep up with him and didn't even seem that out of breath, even though it was probably quite a long run for her. Natasha lead the way to the window that she'd identified and it was the work of moments with a small black box to bypass the security. It took Natasha even less time to pop the lock with a well-placed knife and swing it open. The two Avengers climbed through into an office space and Natasha closed the window behind them.

Natasha drew her gun and looked around her with a critical eye. She had definitely done this sort of thing before, Steve noted. They moved past desks and through a door into a corridor. They could see two security guards at the end of the corridor that they would need to get past in order to get to the stairwell. Natasha threw a small round device along the floor and it spat and electrical charge that stunned both of the guards, who fell to the floor.

"Nice," whispered Steve.

Natasha gave him a brief smile in acknowledgement of the compliment.

"Does this seem too quiet to you?" asked Steve.

"Yes, there should be more guards," said Natasha. "Something about this doesn't feel right."

"Agreed, but we can't turn back until we've found Hawkeye."

"Also agreed," replied Natasha. "Then I can kill him myself."

They cautiously headed up to the floor where they'd seen the void on the blueprints. Steve took one look at the ruined keypad beside the door, with wires sticking out of it and was fairly certain that Clint had been here.

"Hawkeye's work?" he asked Natasha, quietly, for confirmation.

She nodded and they pressed their backs against the wall, so that Steve could open the door while Natasha covered him. It was already unlocked, as he'd expected and it opened onto a well lit room which had two arrows lying on the floor. Other than that it was empty.

Natasha knelt down beside the arrows. "He was here and he fought. It wasn't long ago. There's fresh blood on these arrow heads."

Steve leaned down to pick up a much smaller object. "I think he was drugged. This is a dart from a tranquiliser gun."

The worry that clouded Natasha's features was quickly hidden as she approached him. She took out a small plastic bag from a pouch on her belt, and put the dart in it. "We can analyse it later."

"Good idea. Come on, we might still be able to catch them," said Steve.

Natasha nodded, professional as always. "The room that isn't on the blueprints is that way."

Steve followed Natasha, letting her take the lead since this was her area of expertise. The two of them checked every shadow as they moved and found the door that should lead to their objective. Natasha bypassed the keypad in a slightly more subtle fashion than Clint's effort on the other one. The door swung open and they held out their guns, expecting some kind of resistance or at last guards. They were faced with an empty room, with blank walls.

"It's supposed to be here," said Natasha. "This is supposed to be it. Why hide an empty room?"

Steve looked at the walls. They had to be missing something. He looked down at the marble floor. It was cut in large square slabs, and one of them was slightly less well fitting than the others.

"I don't think it's the room. Whatever it is, I think it's underneath us," said Steve. He knelt on the floor and examined the line around the marble tile. He could feel air through it. Natasha crouched next to him.

"It's definitely something," said Natasha.

"How do we open it?" asked Steve.

Suddenly Steve's com came to life. "Capsicle, I'm standing on the roof of the Lerna Building and I've got one of Hawkeye's arrows here."

"Iron Man, what are you doing here?"

"Let's just say that I got fed up with waiting around," said Tony. "Bird brain is living up to his nickname and he's probably got himself in trouble by now. Have you found him?"

"No, but we've got more arrows and a dart from a tranquiliser gun," said Steve.

"Oh great, they're probably dragging his unconscious body somewhere right now. The tracker on his bow still shows that he's in the building," said Tony.

"Okay, then we can still save him. Get down here. We've got a trap door that won't open and I think it might be electronic," said Steve.

"Really? Electronic? I thought we were past all this technophobia stuff, Cap. I'm on my way," said Tony.

Seconds later Iron Man made his entrance, his servos whirring as he walked through the open door. He flipped up the faceplate. "Jarvis, we need a garage door opener. Run the frequencies with cycling code for each one."

A few seconds later an elevator rose up out of the floor.

Tony looked over at Steve and Natasha. "I knew you couldn't manage without me. Every Hydra base needs a secret entrance."

"This feels like a trap," said Steve.

Natasha nodded. "I don't like the idea of getting in that without know what's at the bottom."

"I'll go first then," said Tony.

"That actually might work," said Steve. "We could use the suit for cover."

"Cover? I think what you actually mean is that I'll provide the main firepower and you two can back me up," said Tony, stepping into the elevator. "Jarvis has pinpointed Clint's bow down there so that's where I'm going, you're welcome to join me."

Steve sighed. Even in the midst of a serious situation, Tony was still annoying.

"Move over," said Steve, entering the elevator and unstrapping his shield. Natasha followed him, guns out and at the ready.

"Going down," said Tony, and the elevator began to move downwards. It was a strange experience as far as Steve was concerned. The compartment appeared to have something that lifted and lowered it from below, unlike the usual arrangement of ropes that Steve was used to. It also had no door, so they could see the walls move past them as they descended down a very long lift shaft.

"Ground floor for home wares, lingerie, missing assassins and Hydra goons," quipped Tony, and put down his faceplate.

Steve noted that he was right, several Hydra henchmen were waiting for the descending elevator. The basic uniform hadn't changed much, perhaps updated for the current era a little but he'd have recognised them anywhere and from his worst nightmares. They all wore helmets and masks to cover their faces, so he wouldn't have been able to give more than a generic description of any of them. They didn't open fire, though. They waited until the elevator had stopped on the level, which seemed to be underground from the roughhewn rock that made up the walls of the room.

One of the men spoke. "We have orders to take you to Mr Lerna. It's entirely up to you whether we take you alive."

There was the sound of safeties being taken off guns.

"Where's Hawkeye?" asked Steve, seeing no reason not to get right to the point. His shield was protecting his body, and he gripped it firmly.

"Not here," said the Hydra henchman.

"We can see that," said Tony, his voice distorted by the suit. "The question was where is he? They clearly don't make Hydra flunkies like they use to, Cap. I bet you were expecting him to answer the question."

"I think their intelligence may have suffered over the years since I last met one," said Steve. "To be honest, the smarter ones used to answer my questions pretty quickly."

Natasha had her guns ready and aimed, Tony's repulsors were glowing and Steve could feel that the tension in the moment was about to be broken. The Hydra goon who seemed to be in charge was the first to open fire and he was quickly taken down by Tony's repulsors. Steve noted that he was wearing some pretty special body armour, as it took Tony a couple of hits before the henchman fell to the ground. Damn Hydra and their technology.

Natasha was crouched down behind Tony's legs, using the suit as cover, and had taken down the second one to open fire with a hail of bullets. Steve moved his shield to deflect the bullets that were aimed at him, and successfully sent one back into the person that had fired it at him. Then someone shouted "now!" and the room began to fill with a green tinted smoke.

Steve held his breath for as long as he could, but eventually he had to breathe. Whatever the gas was, it made him feel lightheaded and he coughed. He could see Natasha was on the verge of passing out, her gun was wavering and her eyes were watering. The face masks that the Hydra soldiers were wearing seemed to protect them.

"Tony!" he shouted, going down on one knee.

Iron Man stopped shooting long enough to see what was happening to his companions. He seemed unaffected so the suit had to have some kind of air filtration system.

"Crap," said Tony. "I need to get you and Red out of here or Hydra will have a few more bunk mates for Hawkeye."

"But Clint…" coughed Natasha.

"Iron Man, get the Widow out of here," said Steve, throwing his shield at the nearest Hydra gunman. He barely caught it on its return, the fog of the gas was so thick. He should have known that it was never this easy. "I'll stay and look for Hawkeye."

"Uh uh, Captain Sacrifice, no can do. You're coughing your lungs up. Who knows what's in that stuff. This is a two for one offer. Hold tight, we're taking the express elevator to the surface," said Tony. Then he turned a repulsor on the ceiling of the elevator car and shot a hole in it. He grabbed hold of both Steve and Natasha by the backs of their suits and flew straight up, which was the last thing that Steve remembered before he lost consciousness.

* * *

Tony reached the room which they'd taken the elevator down from, but didn't stop there. He flew Natasha and Steve out of the building and over to the roof of the adjacent building, the one which Hawkeye had used as his jumping off point. He laid his charges on the ground and opened his faceplate.

"Jarvis, scan them," said Tony.

"Yes, sir," replied the AI. "There appears to be an unknown toxin in their respiratory system, depressing their brain function and in Agent Romanoff's case, also her breathing. Her blood oxygenation levels are dangerously low. The super soldier serum seems to be protecting Captain Rogers from the more severe effects of the toxin, but both should be taken to a hospital for immediate emergency care. Secondary problems could be a factor and they should be carefully monitored."

"Nearest hospital with an ER?" asked Tony.

"Georgetown University Hospital," said Jarvis.

Tony's faceplate slammed shut and he grabbed the super soldier and the assassin and flew as quickly as he could (whilst carrying two passengers) to the hospital that Jarvis had indicated. He hoped that Hawkeye could hold on a little longer. He hated having to leave the trail, but he couldn't let Natasha and Steve die just to save Hawkeye. It wasn't even a difficult call, because Clint wouldn't thank him for staying to save him at the expense of the other team members. He just wished that there were two of him.

He radioed Bruce as he flew, explaining what had happened and getting the physicist to divert the Quinjet to the hospital. Bruce also agreed that he'd made the right decision. Tony made sure that Steve and Natasha were in safe hands, with Bruce only minutes away to monitor things more closely, and then flew back to the scene of their earlier defeat. When he reached the bottom of the elevator shaft he found Hawkeye's brand new bow lying in the broken elevator car. Obviously Hydra had detected the tracking device.

They had lost Hawkeye and now had no way to track him. Tony swore long and loudly.

"Man of Iron," said a well-known voice over his radio. "I have reached your location."

"Good, follow the trail of destruction down to the basement. We've still got a missing Hawk to find, if you're feeling up to it," said Tony.

"I am much recovered," said Thor. "And our friend needs our help."

"Yes, he definitely needs help," replied Tony, as he began to cautiously explore the underground complex. He was beginning to think that it was now deserted. "Jarvis, what can you tell me about this place."

"It is an underground complex of a considerable size. There appear to be the facilities here to enable a number of people to live here for some time," said Jarvis.

"So what were they doing down here?" asked Tony.

"I would need more information to determine that," said Jarvis.

"Then let's get it," said Tony. "Hack their systems. And look out for anything that might tell us where they took Hawkeye."

"Yes, sir."

Thor landed somewhat heavily at the bottom of the elevator shaft at that moment. The Asgardian definitely wasn't fully recovered from his run in with Viper and it took him a fraction of a second longer than normal to stand upright.

"Should you even be here?" asked Tony, as Jarvis presented Thor's vitals on his display.

Thor raised an eyebrow. "Would you deny me my chance for revenge?"

"Me? Never," replied Tony. "Just don't push yourself. We've got Cap and Widow down, and the Hawk missing. We're currently at half strength and we don't need any more casualties from this little jaunt to the Capital."

"I know my own abilities," said Thor. "I will not let any of you down."

"Sir, I believe that I have located a second exit from the complex," said Jarvis. "It apparently comes out at the river side."

"Come on, Sparky, let's go see if we can catch up with them," said Tony. He kicked on his jets and zoomed away down the long corridor, leaving Thor to run along behind. The Asgardian's method of flying wasn't really made for indoors.

He let Jarvis guide him through the maze of corridors and up a few flights of stairs. Tony found himself in a large, warehouse sized room that looked to be a dock for some kind of boat, and a big one at that.

"This is not good," said Tony. "Next question, where did they go? Jarvis, any satellites in the area that you can get images from?"

"I have one that is just passing out of range of our location. Pictures over the last hour will probably be of poor quality."

"Okay, grab them," said Tony. "We'll probably need to run them through an analysis program."

Thor arrived a few seconds behind them, not looking at all happy. His face changed to amazement as he looked down on the concrete dock below.

"They had a ship?"

"It looks that way," said Tony, opening his faceplate.

"Sir, you should be aware that the "boat" was most likely a submarine. I have been able to hack into some maintenance logs and they mention pressurisation and ballast tank repair. It is possible that they were simply carrying a submersible craft, but the level of material pressed into service suggests otherwise."

"Jarvis, I'm going to need the Mark 12."

"What is the Mark 12?" asked Thor.

"Underwater capability," said Tony. "Hydra tech has nothing on Stark tech, and I'm going to prove it. Hang in there, Hawkeye, we're coming for you."

* * *

Clint awoke in chains and still groggy from whatever was in the dart that Viper had shot him with. His hands and feet were both cuffed and a chain ran between them. He had been left slumped in a corner of a dark room on what seemed to be a thin mattress that was laid straight onto a hard floor. He cautiously pushed himself into a sitting position on the edge of the mattress and assessed his situation. He had no idea how long he'd been out.

He could make out the outline of a door, but when he tried to move towards it, he realised that the chains were also connected to the floor by a sturdy metal ring. Normally cuffs wouldn't have been a problem for him, but a quick check revealed that his lock picks were missing. These cuffs also weren't standard police issue, they were thick metal and heavy. They felt as if they'd been designed for someone considerably stronger than he was. Maybe they had; Viper had said something about expecting Steve and Natasha. They'd need more than standard issue cuffs to hold Captain America.

A few tugs on the metal ring in the floor suggested that it wasn't going anywhere, and neither was he. He groaned. He really needed to get out of here because he couldn't let the others walk into a trap which had him as the bait. He'd set out to deal with Viper so that the other members of the team wouldn't have to, instead he was sat here in a cell wondering what was happening to the other Avengers. If he could just remember what it was that Viper was hiding then that might help.

A sharp twinge in his head reminded him that he needed to be careful about that line of thinking. He started humming the next song on his playlist. Given that he felt a bit drunk from the drug in his system and his body was aching from the blows it had taken, the line "I've had a little bit too much" from "Just Dance" seemed sort of appropriate.

He was just starting on his second run through when the door to his cell opened and Viper was outlined in the light. Clint blinked at the brightness, and then winced as the lights in the room were switched on. They were uncomfortably bright.

"Good, you're awake. Then we can get started," said Viper.

She moved forwards and Clint did his best to poise ready to strike, but he could feel the sluggish way that his body responded and knew that now wasn't the time to try to take down his captor. He needed to get the lie of the land and at least work out what he was up against. This wasn't his first time to be captured by an enemy or even his first time to find himself in chains.

"You'll have to forgive me for not getting up," said Clint, showing Viper his chains.

"As I mentioned, I know what you're capable of, Hawkeye," said Viper. "Let me explain a few things to you. I know what Loki did to you and I know that he made sure that certain memories would cause you pain if you tried to remember them. I also know that I'm one of them. So you can either tell me what you know now, or we will begin a long discussion of the events leading up to your attack on the SHIELD helicarrier. Eventually you will beg to tell me everything that you know."

"Yeah, that's not going to work out," said Clint. "You should really let me go now, before things start to go badly for you. Did I mention that I live in a Tower with five superheroes?"

Viper smirked. "I thought you were supposed to be one too."

"I never claimed to be good at anything other than aiming straight," replied Clint.

"A skill which won't help you much here." She indicated the room with a flick of her fingers.

"I have good eyes," said Clint. "I see a lot that you probably don't pay attention to. For example, I'm pretty certain that your Mr Lerna scares you."

"The reaction is entirely justified, I assure you," said Viper. "Anyone who isn't afraid of him is a fool."

"Anyone who has to lead using fear, usually isn't a great leader."

"I don't follow him because I'm afraid of him. You've met him, actually. That's one of the problems that we've had. Perhaps you should try to remember him?"

Clint shook his head and began to sing. "I've had a little bit too much. All the people start to rush."

Viper hit him with a right cross to his jaw and he could taste blood on his lip.

"I didn't think my singing was that bad," he smirked, and began on the next verse. Unfortunately, Viper didn't seem to like that one either.


End file.
